Cross-feed fuel cell battery with filter press type structure of cylindrical cross-section

A fuel cell battery formed of an assembly comprising plate-like components in a repeating order of sequence combining the elementary sequence of a cathode, a separator, an anode and a collector, each of said components having substantially the same contour and being in the form of thin plates each having a frame of an electrically insulating material surrounding a central active portion, the respective faces of the respective active portions of the cathode and anode components which face away from the separator component being respectively irrigated by the combustion supporting material and by the fuel, and the two faces of the separator component being irrigated by the electrolyte, said fuel cell being characterized by the improvement wherein:

• said frames are of circular contour and are bounded by concentric circles, so that each frame is constituted in the shape of a flat annulus made up of 12 successively contiguous sectors of 30.degree. of arc, and each of said sectors is pierced in the axial direction by an opening of a particular shape which is the same in the same sector of each of said frames,
• when the components and their frame are assembled, the openings in each sector are in registry so that six pairs of channels are provided, of which a first pair provides the supply of the combustion supporting material to the cathode (1), a second pair the supply of electrolyte for irrigating both sides of the separator (2), a third pair the supply of fuel to the anode (3), a fourth pair the removal of the used combustion supporting material, a fifth pair the removal of the electrolyte and a sixth pair the removal of the reaction products of the fuel,
• branch channels are provided by recessed portions of each cathode component frame connecting said first and fourth pairs of channels with the side of said active portion of said cathode component which faces away from the adjacent separator component;
• branch channels are provided by recessed portions of each anode component frame connecting said third and sixth pairs of channels with the side of said active portion of said anode component which faces away from the adjacent separator component;
• branch channels are provided by recessed portions of each separator component frame connecting said second and fifth channels with both sides of said active portion of said separator component, and
• said channels and branch channels are so disposed that the average direction of flow of said electrolyte from said second to said fifth pair of channels across the faces of the separator active portion is at the same predetermined acute angle to the respective average directions of flow of said fuel, from said third to said sixth pair of channels, and of said combustion supporting material, from said first to said fourth pair of channels, across the active portions respectively of said anode and cathode components of the same cell.