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US 8,802,331 B2Granted
Non-destructive testing methods for fuel cell interconnect manufacturing
AssigneeBloom Energy Corporation
InventorsHarald Herchen, Martin Janousek
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments provide methods for testing a fuel cell interconnect including the steps of providing a fuel cell interconnect and performing a non-destructive test on the fuel cell interconnect comprising at least one of detecting a magnetic response of the interconnect, calculating a volume by optically illuminating the interconnect, detecting an acoustic response of the interconnect, and detecting a thermal response of the interconnect.
Claims21
A method for testing a fuel cell interconnect, comprising:
- providing a fuel cell interconnect;
- performing a non-destructive test on the fuel cell interconnect comprising detecting a magnetic response of the interconnect as a function of position across the interconnect, wherein the magnetic response of the interconnect is detected at a temperature below 50° C.;
- determining a coefficient of thermal expansion as a function of position across the interconnect based on the detected magnetic response;
- and
- placing the interconnect into a fuel cell stack if at least one of coefficient of thermal expansion uniformity or an average coefficient of thermal expansion is within a predetermined coefficient of thermal expansion condition range.
2 more elements
A method of sorting a fuel cell interconnect, comprising:
- receiving a result of a non-destructive test comprising at least one of a coefficient of thermal expansion of the interconnect or a magnetic susceptibility of the interconnect determined from detecting a magnetic response of the interconnect;
- determining whether the interconnect is within a predetermined coefficient of thermal expansion condition range based on the result, and
- sorting the interconnect based on the determination of whether the interconnect is within the predetermined coefficient of thermal expansion condition range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.