CN112242534B - Bipolar plate structure for fuel cell, fuel cell and fuel cell vehicle - Google Patents
Bipolar plate structure for fuel cell, fuel cell and fuel cell vehicle Download PDFInfo
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- CN112242534B CN112242534B CN201910640539.6A CN201910640539A CN112242534B CN 112242534 B CN112242534 B CN 112242534B CN 201910640539 A CN201910640539 A CN 201910640539A CN 112242534 B CN112242534 B CN 112242534B
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
- H01M8/02—Details
- H01M8/0202—Collectors; Separators, e.g. bipolar separators; Interconnectors
- H01M8/0247—Collectors; Separators, e.g. bipolar separators; Interconnectors characterised by the form
- H01M8/0254—Collectors; Separators, e.g. bipolar separators; Interconnectors characterised by the form corrugated or undulated
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M2250/00—Fuel cells for particular applications; Specific features of fuel cell system
- H01M2250/20—Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y02E60/30—Hydrogen technology
- Y02E60/50—Fuel cells
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a bipolar plate structure usable with a fuel cell, comprising: a substrate having a plurality of flow regions thereon for a fluid; and a mesh structure having mesh holes, the mesh structure being disposed on the substrate, forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions, wherein protrusions are disposed at connection portions of the mesh holes to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions.
Description
Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of fuel cell technology, and more particularly, to a bipolar plate structure for a fuel cell, a fuel cell including the same, and a fuel cell vehicle.
Background
The fuel cell takes hydrogen as fuel, does not need to pass through a combustion process, directly converts chemical energy in the fuel and an oxidant into electric energy in an electrochemical reaction mode, does not need to pass through a heat engine process, is not limited by Carnot cycle, and has the actual energy conversion efficiency as high as 50 to 80 percent, so the fuel cell is a high-efficiency conversion power generation device. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells, which are the fifth generation fuel cells, were developed after alkaline fuel cells, phosphoric acid type fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells, and solid oxide fuel cells, have several advantages, including lower operating temperature, short start-up time, high power density, fast load response, no electrolyte loss, etc.
The substrate of the bipolar plate of the fuel cell can be graphite or metal, wherein the metal substrate has obvious advantages in the aspects of weight, performance, processability, cost and the like of the bipolar plate and is the preferred material of the future fuel cell. The mainstream manufacturing process of the metal bipolar plate is a metal stamping forming process. However, in order to continue to increase fuel cell power density and further reduce fuel cell development costs, the metal plate stamping process faces the following two problems. Firstly, a special die is needed for stamping and forming the metal plate, and the die opening cost of a grinding tool is extremely high; particularly, if the cathode plate and the anode plate adopt different flow field structures, two sets of grinding tools are required to be opened for the cathode plate and the anode plate, so that the development cost is greatly increased; if the structure of the cathode and anode flow field plates is adjusted, a new die needs to be opened, and the technical upgrading cost is high. Secondly, the press forming process has a thickness limit problem, for example, a minimum press thickness of about 0.3mm, due to the characteristics of the metal material itself and the limitations of the fine processing technique.
Bipolar plates are important components of fuel cells. Conventional bipolar plate flow channels include, for example, parallel flow channels, serpentine flow channels, pin flow channels, interdigitated flow channels, and the like. These types of flow channels have respective advantages and disadvantages. For example, the pressure drop of the parallel flow channels is small, but the residence time of the reaction gas in the channels is short, so that the utilization rate of the reaction gas is low; the serpentine flow channel has stronger drainage performance, but when the flow channel is too long, the pressure drop of reaction gas is easy to be overlarge; the structure of the needle-shaped flow channel is simpler, but the short circuit of reaction gas is easy to occur; the interdigital flow channel strengthens convection mass transfer, is beneficial to improving the limit current density of the battery, but is easy to cause the retention of liquid water at the initial end of the flow channel.
In summary, the bipolar plate of the current pem fuel cell has the following disadvantages.
1) In the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack, a bipolar plate flow field stamping flow channel needs to develop a die according to the size of the flow channel, if the shapes of the flow channels of a fuel flow channel, an air flow channel and a cooling liquid flow channel are different, a plurality of sets of dies need to be developed, the development cost of the die is extremely high, and therefore the cost of the fuel cell is greatly improved;
2) the stamping process of the metal bipolar plate is influenced by the physical characteristics and the process technology of metal, and the bipolar plate needs to ensure that the thickness of a substrate is about 0.3mm, so that the weight of the bipolar plate is increased, the overall weight of a cell stack is increased, and the power density is reduced;
3) the flow channel of the bipolar plate flow field is difficult to overcome the insufficient reaction, such as low current density, difficult removal of generated water and the like;
4) the reaction area of the flow channel of the bipolar plate flow field has low utilization rate, and the area of the supporting surface is overlarge, so that the reaction efficiency of the fuel cell is limited.
The statements in this background section merely represent techniques known to the public and are not, of course, representative of the prior art.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art, the present disclosure proposes a bipolar plate structure usable for a fuel cell, comprising: a substrate having a plurality of flow regions thereon for a fluid; and a mesh structure having mesh holes, the mesh structure being disposed on the substrate, forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions, wherein protrusions are disposed at connection portions of the mesh holes to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the plurality of flow regions includes an inlet region, a transition region and a reaction region, the mesh structure forms the inlet region, the transition region and the reaction region, and the mesh openings have one or more of a diamond shape, a long strip shape, a circular shape, a rectangular shape and an oval shape.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, wherein a length direction dimension of the mesh is larger than a width direction dimension, the protrusions extend along the length direction of the mesh.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the mesh structure is disposed on the substrate by welding, bonding or pressing.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the substrate is a metal substrate, the net structure is a metal net, the mesh of the metal net has a length direction dimension of 1.5mm to 4mm, a width direction dimension of 0.7mm to 2mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably 1.5 to 2, the protrusions have a length direction dimension of 0.5mm to 2mm, a width direction dimension of 0.05mm to 0.5mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably 10 to 30.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the length direction of the mesh structure in the inlet zone and the reaction zone is the same; the length direction of the network in the transition zone is perpendicular to the length direction of the network in the inlet zone and the reaction zone.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the aspect ratio of the mesh structure is adjustable.
The present disclosure also provides a fuel cell comprising a bipolar plate structure as described above.
The present disclosure also provides a fuel cell vehicle including the fuel cell system as described above.
The present disclosure also provides a method of making a bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell, comprising:
providing or preparing a substrate having a plurality of flow regions for a fluid thereon;
providing or preparing a mesh structure having mesh openings with protrusions provided at connection sites of the mesh openings to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions, and
disposing the mesh structure on the substrate forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the plurality of flow regions includes an inlet region, a transition region and a reaction region, the mesh structure forms the inlet region, the transition region and the reaction region, and the mesh openings have one or more of a diamond shape, a long strip shape, a circular shape, a rectangular shape and an oval shape.
In the embodiment of the invention, the metal substrate is adopted, so that the thickness of the metal substrate can be made thinner, and the whole weight of the electric pile is reduced.
In addition, the protrusions are arranged on the net-shaped structure and used for guiding fluid, for example, the amount of gas reaching the reaction area of the membrane electrode assembly of the fuel cell is increased, the flow rate and activity of gas or liquid molecules are increased, the reaction progress is accelerated, the reaction efficiency is improved, the process cost is reduced, and the reaction uniformity and the power density of the electric pile are improved.
Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure and are not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 illustrates a bipolar plate structure that may be used in a fuel cell according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 2 shows the structure of the substrate 11;
FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a mesh structure 13 according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 4 shows a microscopic view of the mesh-like structure 13 along the length direction;
fig. 5 shows a microscopic view of the network 13 in the width direction;
fig. 6 shows a perspective view of the microstructure of the network 13;
FIG. 7 illustrates a method of making a bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 8 shows a lengthwise microscopic view of a mesh-like structure according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 9 shows a widthwise microscopic view of a mesh-like structure according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 10 shows a perspective view of the microstructure of a mesh-like structure according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;
figure 11 illustrates a method of making a bipolar plate structure that can be used in a fuel cell according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.
List of reference numerals:
10 a bipolar plate structure; 11 a substrate; 13 a network structure; 111 an inlet zone; a transition zone 112; 113 a reaction zone; 117 a flow field region; 114 a coolant storage area; 115 an air storage area; 116 a fuel storage area; 118 positioning holes; 131 meshes; 131' mesh; the dimension in the length direction of L; the dimension in the width direction of W; flow resistance in the FL length direction; flow resistance in the FW width direction; 132 connection; 132' are raised; FW' flow resistance in a direction perpendicular to the projections; FL' is parallel to the flow resistance in the direction of the protrusion.
Detailed Description
In the following, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art can appreciate, the described embodiments can be modified in various different ways, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.
In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "straight", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the present disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of the disclosure. To simplify the disclosure of the present disclosure, specific example components and arrangements are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Moreover, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or reference letters in the various examples, which have been repeated for purposes of simplicity and clarity and do not in themselves dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present disclosure provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or use of other materials.
The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are merely for purposes of illustrating and explaining the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.
First embodiment
Fig. 1 illustrates a bipolar plate structure 10 that may be used in a fuel cell according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, a bipolar plate structure 10 includes a substrate 11 (the substrate 11 is partially shown in fig. 1) and a mesh structure 13. Wherein the substrate 11 has a plurality of flow regions for fluids thereon, including, for example and without limitation, an inlet zone 111, a transition zone 112, and a reaction zone 113. The mesh structure 13 has mesh openings with a length dimension greater than a width dimension (described in detail below), and the mesh structure 13 is disposed on the substrate to form at least one of the plurality of flow regions, such as the inlet region 111, the transition region 112, and the reaction region 113. As described in detail below.
Fig. 2 shows the structure of the substrate 11. The base 11 is, for example, a metal substrate. The metal substrate has significant advantages in weight, performance, processability, cost, and is a preferred material for the bipolar plate substrate of a fuel cell. In addition, the substrate 11 can be a flat metal plate with a thickness of about 0.1mm, for example, which greatly reduces the weight of the bipolar plate. When the material of the substrate 11 is selected, a metal having stable properties and high conductivity in a highly corrosive environment is preferably selected. Preferably, a titanium plate can be adopted, and the titanium has stable property, high specific strength, good toughness and fatigue resistance. In addition, in order to increase conductivity, a material having good conductivity such as ruthenium or gold may be plated on the surface. The air inlet hole, the liquid inlet hole, the positioning hole and the like on the substrate 11 can be processed by adopting a laser cutting or linear cutting method.
The substrate 11 shown in fig. 2 has, for example, a flow field region 117, over which gas and/or liquid for the fuel cell can flow. In connection with fig. 1, the flow field region 117 is formed with a plurality of flow regions for fluids, including, for example and without limitation, the inlet region 111, the transition region 112, and the reaction region 113. Wherein the inlet zone 111 is for example for receiving fluid into the flow field region 117 and the transition zone 112 is for enabling the fluid to enter the reaction zone 113, i.e. the activation region of the flow field region, uniformly and dispersedly. The fluid participates in the cell reaction at the reaction zone 113 and is then discharged.
In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate 11 further has a cooling liquid storage region 114, an air storage region 115, and a fuel storage region 116 and a positioning hole 118, which are not described in detail herein.
Fig. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the mesh-like structure 13 according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, fig. 4 illustrates a microscopic view of the mesh-like structure 13 in a length direction, fig. 5 illustrates a microscopic view of the mesh-like structure 13 in a width direction, and fig. 6 illustrates a perspective view of the microscopic structure of the mesh-like structure 13.
As shown in fig. 4-6, the mesh-like structure 13 has generally diamond-shaped mesh openings 131 with a length-wise dimension L that is greater than a width-wise dimension W (as best seen in fig. 4), such that the flow resistance along the length direction is less than the flow resistance along the width direction. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the shape of the mesh 131 may be any of a long strip, an oval, a rectangle, a combination of a plurality of these, or other polygonal structures with unequal lengths and widths, in addition to a diamond shape. The diamond-shaped mesh 131 will be described as an example.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh structure 13 is a metal mesh, such as a titanium mesh. The mesh has a length of 1.5-4 mm and a width of 0.7-2 mm, and the length-width ratio is preferably about 1.5-2. The ratio of mesh length to mesh width is preferably 4-8. The web 13 and the substrate 11 can be welded together, for example, by laser welding, preferably in a spot density of 10mm to 20mm, which, in addition to serving as a fixing, is also electrically conductive. According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, the mesh structure 13 may be disposed on the substrate 11 by other means such as bonding or pressing. When both the substrate 11 and the mesh structure 13 are made of titanium, the ruthenium plating process of the titanium plate and the titanium mesh may be performed by ruthenium plating alone before welding or ruthenium plating in whole after welding.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh 131 of the net-shaped structure 13 is, for example, a diamond-shaped structure, and since the net-shaped structure 13 itself has a certain thickness (preferably, a thickness of, for example, 0.1mm to 0.3mm), pits are formed at the mesh 131 after the net-shaped structure 13 and the substrate 11 are welded together. When gas or liquid flows through the concave pits, turbulent flow can be formed, and the gas or liquid which originally flows towards the outlet direction can form a flow form towards the direction of the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly at the concave pits, so that the amount of the gas or liquid reaching the reaction area of the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly is increased, the flow speed and the activity of gas or liquid molecules are also increased, and the reaction progress is accelerated.
As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the diamond-shaped meshes 131 of the net-like structure 13 have a dimension L in the longitudinal direction larger than a dimension W in the width direction, and the geometrical configuration is such that the resistance of the gas flow or the liquid flow in the longitudinal direction (arrow FL in fig. 5 and 6) is smaller than the resistance in the width direction (arrow FW in fig. 5 and 6), thereby having a flow guiding effect, and the magnitude of the flow resistance in the length direction and the width direction can be adjusted by changing the aspect ratio of the diamond-shaped meshes 131. The line width of the net-shaped structure 13 is selected to be 0.04mm-0.2mm, the width of the line directly influences the size of the flow resistance, and the thinner the net line is, the better the welding is ensured. To reduce flow resistance and to ensure solder joints, the width of the lines can be increased at the joints 132 and decreased at the non-joints.
By using the different flow resistance of the net-shaped structure 13 in the length and width directions, the same arrangement direction as that of the reaction zone 113 is used in the inlet zone 111, the length directions of the net-shaped structures in the inlet zone and the reaction zone are the same, and the flow direction of the fluid is parallel to the length direction of the net-shaped structure; in the transition region 112 of the flow field, by using the characteristic of large flow resistance in the width direction thereof, the arrangement mode that the fluid flow direction is perpendicular to the length direction of the mesh structure of the transition region is adopted, and the arrangement direction is perpendicular to the mesh arrangement direction of the reaction region 113, so that after gas or liquid enters, the characteristics of large resistance in the width direction and small resistance in the length direction of the transition region can be utilized, the time for the gas or liquid to enter the reaction region 113 is increased, the time for the gas or liquid to be distributed in the width direction of the bipolar plate is reduced, and the gas or liquid uniformly enters the reaction region 113 (arrows in the inlet region 111, the transition region 112 and the reaction region 113 in fig. 1 represent the length direction of the metal mesh). In contrast, the reaction region 113 has a small flow resistance in the longitudinal direction and a small pressure drop.
According to the bipolar plate structure of the embodiment of the disclosure, the following technical problems in the prior art are solved: the flow channel of the bipolar plate flow field of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack in the current market is difficult to overcome, the reaction is insufficient, the current density is low, and the generated water is difficult to remove; the bipolar plate flow field channel reaction area has low utilization rate of the area, and the area of the supporting surface is too large, so that the reaction efficiency is limited.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the aspect ratio of the mesh structure 13 may be adjusted, so that the flow resistance in the length and width directions of the mesh structure 13 may be adjusted.
In the above embodiments, the inlet region 111, the transition region 112 and the reaction region 113 on the substrate 11 are all provided with the mesh structure 13, or the inlet region 111, the transition region 112 and the reaction region 113 are all formed by the mesh structure 13. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure is not so limited and one or more of the inlet zone 111, transition zone 112, and reaction zone 113 may also be configured to be formed from the mesh structure 13. For example, the transition zone 112 may be configured to be formed by the mesh structure 13, while the inlet zone, the reaction zone, or both may be configured in other or conventional ways. Thus, the time for the gas or liquid to enter the reaction region 113 is increased by the non-uniform flow resistance in the length and width directions of the mesh structure 13, and the time for the gas or liquid to be distributed in the width direction of the bipolar plate is decreased, so that the gas or liquid can uniformly enter the reaction region 113. All of which are within the scope of the present disclosure.
Second embodiment
A second embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a method 200 of making a bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell, described below with reference to fig. 7.
As shown in fig. 7, the method 200 includes:
in step S201, a substrate is provided or prepared. A substrate, such as substrate 11 described in the first embodiment section above, has a plurality of flow regions for fluids thereon, including, for example and without limitation, an inlet zone, a transition zone, and a reaction zone.
In step S202, a mesh structure is provided or prepared. A mesh structure such as the mesh structure 13 described in the first embodiment section above has mesh openings therein, the mesh openings having a length dimension that is greater than a width dimension.
In step S203, the mesh structure is disposed on the substrate, forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions, thereby forming a bipolar plate structure that can be used in a fuel cell.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the step S203 includes: the entrance zone, transition zone and reaction zone are formed using the mesh structure.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the shape of the mesh is one or more of diamond, strip, rectangle and ellipse.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh structure is disposed on the substrate by welding, bonding or pressing.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate is a metal substrate, the net structure is a metal net, the mesh of the metal net has a length dimension of 1.5mm to 4mm, a width dimension of 0.7mm to 2mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably about 1.5 to 2.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the length direction of the mesh structures of the inlet zone and the reaction zone is the same and perpendicular to the length direction of the mesh structures of the transition zone.
Third embodiment
A third embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to a bipolar plate structure that can be used in a fuel cell. The third embodiment is a variation of the first embodiment and therefore for clarity like parts of the third embodiment will be designated with like reference numerals as in the first embodiment, e.g., the bipolar plate construction will still be designated 10 and the substrate will still be designated 11.
The bipolar plate structure 10 of the third embodiment of the present disclosure includes a substrate 11 and a mesh structure 13', the substrate 11 having a plurality of flow regions thereon for fluids, including, for example and without limitation, an inlet zone, a transition zone, and a reaction zone. The substrate is the same as the substrate 11 of the first embodiment, and is not described herein again. The following focuses on the network 13'.
FIG. 8 shows a lengthwise microscopic view of the mesh-like structure 13'; fig. 9 shows a microscopic view of the width direction of the network 13'; fig. 10 shows a perspective view of the microstructure 13 'of the network 13'.
As shown in fig. 8, the net structure 13 ' has net holes 131 ' in which protrusions 132 ' are provided at the positions of the connection portions of the net holes 131 ' to increase the flow resistance in the direction transverse to the protrusions 132 '. The projections 132' have, for example, an elongated cross section. For example, referring to fig. 9 and 10, as fluid flows through the network 13 ', the flow resistance FW' in the direction perpendicular to the protrusions 132 'is increased, while the flow resistance FL' in the direction parallel to the protrusions 132 'is unaffected, thereby directing the fluid to flow in the direction parallel to the protrusions 132'. Through the arrangement of the protrusions 132 ', the flow guide effect can be achieved in the length direction of the protrusions 132', the flow blocking effect can be achieved in the width direction, the protrusions are used for supporting the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly and conducting electrons of the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly, and the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly is prevented from collapsing or protruding in the plane direction to influence the uniformity of gas circulation and reaction.
The mesh structure 13' is disposed on the substrate 11 to form at least one of the plurality of flow regions of the bipolar plate structure 10, which will not be described herein.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh structure 13 'forms the inlet zone, the transition zone and the reaction zone, and the shape of the mesh 131' is one or more of diamond, strip, circle, rectangle and ellipse.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, as in the first embodiment, the length-wise dimension L of the mesh 131 'is greater than the width-wise dimension W (as shown in fig. 8), so that the mesh 131' itself also helps to direct fluid flowing therethrough along its length. It is also preferred that the protrusions 132' extend along the length of the mesh as shown in fig. 8. The net structure 13 'of the present disclosure has a certain thickness, and thus, when welded to a substrate, pits are formed at the mesh holes 131'. When gas or liquid flows through the concave pits, turbulent flow can be formed, and the gas or liquid which originally flows towards the outlet direction realizes airflow flowing towards the direction of the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly at the concave pits, so that the amount of the gas reaching the reaction area of the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly is increased, the flow speed and the activity of gas or liquid molecules are also increased, and the reaction progress is accelerated. Taking a diamond mesh structure as an example, the mesh 131 'makes the space in the length direction larger than the space in the width direction, and the protrusions 132' of the mesh bonding points make the flow resistance of the fluid in the length direction smaller than the flow resistance in the width direction, so that the flow guiding effect is achieved, and the flow resistance in the length direction and the width direction can be adjusted by changing the length-to-width ratio. In addition, because the protrusions 132' of the connection points are smaller than the width of the mesh, the width direction is not blocked, the flow channels are not sealed in the width direction, and gas or liquid can flow in the width direction, so that the reaction area of the gas or liquid is increased.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh-like structure 13' is disposed on the substrate 11 by welding, bonding or pressing.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate 11 is a metal substrate, the mesh structure is a metal mesh, the mesh of the metal mesh has a length dimension of 1.5mm to 4mm, a width dimension of 0.7mm to 2mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably about 1.5 to 2, and the protrusions 132' have a length dimension of 0.5mm to 2mm, a width dimension of 0.05mm to 0.5mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably 10 to 30.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the length direction of the mesh structures in the inlet zone and the reaction zone is the same; the length direction of the network in the transition zone is perpendicular to the length direction of the network in the inlet zone and the reaction zone.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the aspect ratio of the mesh-like structure 13' is adjustable.
The embodiment of the disclosure overcomes the defects of insufficient reaction, low current density, difficult removal of generated water and the like in the flow channel of the bipolar plate of the stack of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell in the current market, and the defects of low utilization rate of the area of the flow channel reaction area of the bipolar plate, overlarge area of the supporting surface, limitation of reaction efficiency and the like.
While for clarity reasons only the differences between the mesh-like structure 13' of the third embodiment and the mesh-like structure 13 of the first embodiment have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other features of the first embodiment are also applicable to the third embodiment and will not be described herein again.
Fourth embodiment
A fourth embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a method 300 of making a bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell, described below with reference to fig. 11.
As shown in fig. 11, the method 300 includes:
in step S301, a substrate is provided or prepared having a plurality of flow regions for fluids thereon, such as including but not limited to an inlet zone, a transition zone, and a reaction zone; and
in step S302, a mesh structure is provided or prepared, the mesh structure having mesh holes with protrusions provided at connection portions of the mesh holes to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions, and
in step S303, the mesh structure is disposed on the substrate, forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the step S303 includes: the entrance zone, transition zone and reaction zone are formed using the mesh structure. Wherein the shape of the mesh can be one or more of diamond, strip, circle, rectangle and ellipse.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh has a length direction dimension greater than a width direction dimension, and the protrusions extend along the length direction of the mesh.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the mesh structure is disposed on the substrate by welding, bonding or pressing.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the substrate is a metal substrate, the mesh structure is a metal mesh, the mesh openings of the metal mesh have a length-direction dimension of 1.5mm to 4mm, a width-direction dimension of 0.7mm to 2mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably about 1.5 to 2, the projections have a length-direction dimension of 0.5mm to 2mm, a width-direction dimension of 0.05mm to 0.5mm, and an aspect ratio of preferably 10 to 30.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the length direction of the mesh structures in the inlet zone and the reaction zone is the same; the length direction of the network in the transition zone is perpendicular to the length direction of the network in the inlet zone and the reaction zone.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the aspect ratio of the mesh structure is adjustable.
Fifth embodiment
A fifth embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to a fuel cell including the bipolar plate structure 10 as described above.
A fifth embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to a fuel cell vehicle including the fuel cell system as described above.
In various preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, the bipolar plate adopts a process of welding or extrusion connection of a planar metal plate and a metal mesh to form a gas or liquid inlet, a transition zone and a reaction zone; the meshes of the metal net are of rhombus, ellipse, rectangle and other structures with large air resistance difference in the vertical direction; the gas inlet area and the reaction area are arranged by adopting a method that the gas flow direction is parallel to the mesh length direction and the gas resistance is reduced; the transition area is arranged by adopting a method that the airflow direction is vertical to the length direction of the meshes so as to increase the air resistance; the fuel flow field, the air flow field and the cooling liquid flow field all adopt the same structure.
Through the technical scheme of the embodiment of the disclosure, the following technical effects can be realized:
1. the whole weight of the electric pile is reduced;
2. the reaction efficiency is improved;
3. the process cost is reduced;
4. the reaction uniformity is improved;
5. the power density of the electric pile is improved.
The above description is only exemplary of the present disclosure and should not be taken as limiting the disclosure, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Finally, it should be noted that: although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiments and/or equivalents thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.
Claims (9)
1. A bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell, comprising:
a substrate having a plurality of flow regions thereon for a fluid; and
a mesh structure having mesh openings, the mesh structure disposed on the substrate forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions, wherein protrusions are disposed at connection locations of the mesh openings to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions;
wherein the mesh has a length direction dimension greater than a width direction dimension, the protrusions extending along the length direction of the mesh;
the substrate is a metal substrate.
2. The bipolar plate structure of claim 1, wherein said mesh openings are in the shape of one or more of a diamond, a rectangle, an ellipse with unequal diagonals.
3. The bipolar plate structure of claim 1, wherein the mesh structure is a metal mesh having mesh openings with a length dimension of 1.5mm-4mm, a width dimension of 0.7mm-2mm, and an aspect ratio of 1.5-2;
the length direction of the bulge is 0.5mm-2mm, the width direction of the bulge is 0.05mm-0.5mm, and the length-width ratio of the bulge is 10-30.
4. The bipolar plate structure of claim 1, wherein the mesh structure is disposed on the base by laser welding, bonding, or press fitting.
5. A bipolar plate structure according to claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio of said mesh structure is adjustable, said substrate and/or mesh structure being plated with ruthenium.
6. A fuel cell comprising the bipolar plate structure of any one of claims 1 to 5.
7. A fuel cell vehicle comprising the fuel cell according to claim 6.
8. A method of making a bipolar plate structure useful in a fuel cell, comprising:
providing or preparing a substrate having a plurality of flow regions for a fluid thereon;
providing or preparing a mesh structure having mesh openings with protrusions disposed at connection locations of the mesh openings to increase flow resistance in a direction transverse to the protrusions, wherein a length-wise dimension of the mesh openings is greater than a width-wise dimension, and the protrusions extend along the length-wise direction of the mesh openings; and
disposing the mesh structure on the substrate forming at least one of the plurality of flow regions;
the substrate is a metal substrate.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of disposing a mesh structure on the substrate comprises: disposing the web structure on the substrate by laser welding, wherein the method further comprises: ruthenium plating on the substrate and/or the web structure before or after the laser welding.
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| CN201910640539.6A CN112242534B (en) | 2019-07-16 | 2019-07-16 | Bipolar plate structure for fuel cell, fuel cell and fuel cell vehicle |
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| CN201910640539.6A CN112242534B (en) | 2019-07-16 | 2019-07-16 | Bipolar plate structure for fuel cell, fuel cell and fuel cell vehicle |
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| CN113270608B (en) * | 2021-06-07 | 2022-07-15 | 嘉寓氢能源科技(辽宁)有限公司 | Metal bipolar plate of proton exchange membrane fuel cell beneficial to fluid distribution |
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