CN1393951A - Method for uniform distribution of water in proton exhcnage membrane for fuel battery - Google Patents

Method for uniform distribution of water in proton exhcnage membrane for fuel battery Download PDF

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CN1393951A
CN1393951A CN01113153A CN01113153A CN1393951A CN 1393951 A CN1393951 A CN 1393951A CN 01113153 A CN01113153 A CN 01113153A CN 01113153 A CN01113153 A CN 01113153A CN 1393951 A CN1393951 A CN 1393951A
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gas
exchange membrane
proton exchange
fuel cell
electrode
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CN100337359C (en
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胡里清
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State Grid Corp of China SGCC
Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co
Shanghai Shenli Technology Co Ltd
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Shanghai Shen Li High Tech Co Ltd
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    • YGENERAL 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
    • Y02TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02EREDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E60/00Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y02E60/30Hydrogen technology
    • Y02E60/50Fuel cells

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Abstract

The invenion relates to the method enable for distributing the water evently on the proteon exchange membrane in th fuel cell. The structure of the guide plate in the fuel cell is improved in the method. The air inlet and air outlet are setup at the upper and lower ends of the guide plate of the fuel cell. The air inlets are the upper part and lower part passing through at least one draft groove are connected to the air outlet setup at the lower and upper end of the guide plate. The air coming from the inlets are the upper end of the guide plate is in the relative opposite direction with the direction of the air coming from the lower ends of the guide plate respectively along each draft groove. As the electrochemcial reaction takes place, the whole proton exchange membrane is in state with even water distribution.

Description

Method for making proton exchange membrane in fuel cell obtain uniform water distribution
The invention relates to a method for uniformly distributing water in a proton exchange membrane in a fuel cell.
An electrochemical fuel cell is a device that is capable of converting hydrogen fuel and an oxidant into electrical energy and reaction products. The inner core component of the device is a Membrane Electrode (MEA), which is composed of a proton exchange Membrane and two porous conductive materials sandwiched between two surfaces of the Membrane, such as carbon paper. The membrane contains auniform and finely dispersed catalyst, such as a platinum metal catalyst, for initiating an electrochemical reaction at the interface between the membrane and the carbon paper. The electrons generated in the electrochemical reaction process can be led out by conductive objects at two sides of the membrane electrode through an external circuit to form a current loop.
At the anode end of the membrane electrode, fuel can permeate through a porous diffusion material (carbon paper) and undergo electrochemical reaction on the surface of a catalyst to lose electrons to form positive ions, and the positive ions can pass through a proton exchange membrane through migration to reach the cathode end at the other end of the membrane electrode. At the cathode end of the membrane electrode, a gas containing an oxidant (e.g., oxygen), such as air, forms negative ions by permeating through a porous diffusion material (carbon paper) and electrochemically reacting on the surface of the catalyst to give electrons. The anions formed at the cathode end react with the positive ions transferred from the anode end to form reaction products.
In a pem fuel cell using hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen-containing air as the oxidant (or pure oxygen as the oxidant), the catalytic electrochemical reaction of the fuel hydrogen in the anode region produces hydrogen cations (or protons). The proton exchange membrane assists the migration of positive hydrogen ions from the anode region to the cathode region. In addition, the proton exchange membrane separates the hydrogen-containing fuel gas stream from the oxygen-containing gas stream so that they do not mix with each other to cause explosive reactions.
In the cathode region, oxygen gains electrons on the catalyst surface, forming negative ions, which react with the hydrogen positive ions transported from the anode region to produce water as a reaction product. In a proton exchange membrane fuel cellusing hydrogen, air (oxygen), the anode reaction and the cathode reaction can be expressed by the following equations:
and (3) anode reaction:
and (3) cathode reaction:
in a typical pem fuel cell, a Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) is typically placed between two conductive plates, and the surface of each conductive plate in contact with the MEA is die-cast, stamped, or mechanically milled to form at least one or more channels. The conductive plates can be plates made of metal materials or plates made of graphite materials. The flow guide pore canals and the flow guide grooves on the conductive polar plates respectively guide the fuel and the oxidant into the anode area and the cathode area on two sides of the membrane electrode. In the structure of a single proton exchange membrane fuel cell, only one membrane electrode is arranged, and a flow guide polar plate of anode fuel and a flow guide polar plate of cathode oxidant are respectively arranged on two sides of the membrane electrode. The flow guide polar plates are used as current collector plates and mechanical supports at two sides of the membrane electrode, and the flow guide grooves on the flow guide polar plates are also used as channels for fuel and oxidant to enter the surfaces of the anode and the cathode and as channels for taking away water generated in the operation process of the fuel cell.
In order to increase the total power of the whole proton exchange membrane fuel cell, two or more single cells can be connected in series to form a battery pack in a straight-stacked manner or connected in a flat-laid manner to form a battery pack. In the direct-stacking and serial-type battery pack, two surfaces of one polar plate can be provided with flow guide grooves, wherein one surface can be used as an anode flow guide surface of one membrane electrode, and the other surface can be used as a cathode flow guide surface of another adjacent membrane electrode, and the polar plate is called a bipolar plate. A series of cells are connected together in a manner to form a battery pack. The battery pack is generally fastened together into one body by a front end plate, a rear end plate and a tie rod.
A typical battery pack generally includes: (1) the fuel (such as hydrogen, methanol or hydrogen-rich gas obtained by reforming methanol, natural gas and gasoline) and the oxidant (mainly oxygen or air) are uniformly distributed in the diversion trenches of the anode surface and the cathode surface; (2) cooling fluid (such as water) is uniformly distributed into cooling channels in each battery pack through an inlet and an outlet of the cooling fluid and a flow guide channel, and heat generated by electrochemical exothermic reaction of hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell is absorbed and taken out of the battery pack for heat dissipation; (3) the outlets of the fuel gas and the oxidant gas and the corresponding flow guide channels can carry out liquid and vapor water generated in the fuel cell when the fuel gas and the oxidant gas are discharged. Typically, all fuel, oxidant, and cooling fluid inlets and outlets are provided in one or both end plates of the fuel cell stack.
In order to make the pem fuel cell operate in a high performance state, it is necessary to keep the pem in a state of humidification and no water loss. Because the protons need to be hydrated when passing through the proton exchange membrane and the hydrated protons carry a lot of water molecules when passing through the proton exchange membrane, if the proton exchange membrane is in a dehydrated dry state, the resistance of the protons when passing through the proton exchange membrane is large, which means that the working performance in the fuel cell isreduced and the current can not be output when the performance is serious.
In order to keep the proton exchange membrane in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell in a non-dehydrated state or in a humidified state, the following technologies are available:
1. external humidification technology: the fuel hydrogen and oxidant such as oxygen and air are humidified firstly, so that the fuel hydrogen and oxidant gas contain certain water vapor (reach certain relative humidity), and then enter the fuel cell for reaction, such as: as described in us patent 6,106,964 (8 months 2000).
2. Internal humidification technology: the basic principle of the internal humidification technology is the same as that of the external humidification, but the fuel cell stack is divided into a humidification section and an active section, and two stages are fused in one cell stack to enhance the compactness of the cell and improve the energy utilization efficiency. Thus, the fuel hydrogen and the oxidant air are humidified firstly through the humidifying section of the cell stack and then enter the active section of the cell stack for reaction.
However, both of the above techniques have the following disadvantages:
the first technique additionally adds an external humidifying device of the fuel cell, which not only additionally increases the weight and volume of the peripheral system of the fuel cell, but also wastes a large amount of material and labor cost.
The second technique has similar disadvantages in that although the overall compactness is higher than that of the first technique, the volume and weight of the entire stack are increased, and a large amount of manufacturing materials and labor costs are wasted.
The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a method for uniformly distributing water in a proton exchange membrane in a fuel cell, and the fuel cell prepared by the method has good humidifying performance, compact structure and lower cost.
The purpose of the invention can be realized by the following technical scheme: a method for making proton exchange membrane in fuel cell get even water distribution, its characteristic is, improve the structure of the fuel cell guide plate, it is to set up a gas inlet respectively at the upper, lower end or left, right end of the fuel cell guide plate specifically, set up a gas outlet respectively at the upper, lower end or left, right end of the fuel cell guide plate at the same time, the said gas inlet set up in upper end of guide plate is communicated with gas outlet set up in lower end of guide plate through at least a diversion trench, the said gas inlet set up in lower end of guide plate is communicated with gas outlet set up in upper end of guide plate through at least a diversion trench too, the gas that comes in from the gas inlet of upper, lower end of guide plate separately walks along respective diversion trench relatively in opposite directions, go out from gas outlet of upper, lower end of guide plate separately; the gas coming from the gas inlet at the upper end of the guide plate is in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the gas reaches the middle part and the lower part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the lower part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, the gas coming from the gas inlet at the lower end of the guide plate is also in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that the water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water isgenerated when the gas reaches the middle part and the upper part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the upper part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, and the comprehensive effect ensures that the whole proton exchange membrane.
The gas is oxidant gas or fuel hydrogen.
The oxidant gas is air or oxygen.
The gas coming from the gas inlets at the upper end, the lower end or the left end and the right end of the guide plate comes from the same gas source and is uniformly fed.
The gas from the gas outlets at the upper end, the lower end or the left end and the right end of the guide plate is combined and uniformly discharged.
By adopting the technical scheme, the invention can lead the fuel hydrogen or oxidant (oxygen and air) to be capable of simultaneously feeding air at two inlets, but the fuel hydrogen or oxidant (oxygen and air) can travel on the guide plate in the reverse direction and finally can be combined to uniformly discharge air, and the reverse travel has the following advantages:
the first path of gas is in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that water in a proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easy to take away; along with the electrochemical reaction, a large amount of water is generated into the lower half part of the dewetting membrane when reaching the middle part and the lower half part of the electrode; the second path of gas is just opposite, enters the electrode from the lower half part of the electrode and is in a dry state when entering the electrode, water in the membrane in the electrode is easy to be taken away, and a large amount of water generates the upper half part of the humidifying removing membrane when reaching the middle part and the upper half part of the electrode along with the generation of electrochemical reaction, so that the proton exchange membrane is always humidified, and the performance of the fuel cell is kept in a better state.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a baffle of example 1 of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a baffle of embodiment 2 of the present invention.
The invention is further described with reference to the following drawings and specific embodiments.
Example 1
Referring to fig. 1, a method for uniformly distributing water in a proton exchange membrane of a fuel cell is characterized in that the structure of a fuel cell flow guide plate (hydrogen guide flow plate) is improved, specifically, a hydrogen inlet a is respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the fuel cell flow guide plate 1, a hydrogen outlet B is respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the fuel cell flow guide plate 1, the hydrogen inlet a arranged at the upper end of the flow guide plate is communicated with the hydrogen outlet B arranged at the lower end of the flow guide plate through two flow guide grooves 2, the hydrogen inlet a arranged at the lower end of the flow guide plate is also communicated with the hydrogen outlet B arranged at the upper end of the flow guide plate through two flow guide grooves 2, the hydrogen coming from the hydrogen inlet at the upper end of the flow guide plate is called a first path of hydrogen, the hydrogen coming from the hydrogen inlet at the lower end of the flow guide plate is called a second path of hydrogen, the first, the hydrogen gas from the hydrogen gas inlets at the upper end and the lower end of the guide plate is uniformly fed from the same gas source Q, and the hydrogengas from the hydrogen gas outlets at the upper end and the lower end of the guide plate is combined and uniformly discharged from the pipeline W; the hydrogen coming from the hydrogen inlet at the upper end of the guide plate is in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the hydrogen reaches the middle part and the lower part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the lower part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, the hydrogen coming from the hydrogen inlet at the lower end of the guide plate is also in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that the water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the hydrogen reaches the middle part and the upper part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the upper part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, and the comprehensive effect ensures that the whole proton exchange membrane.
Example 2
Referring to fig. 2, a method for uniformly distributing water in a proton exchange membrane of a fuel cell is characterized in that the structure of a fuel cell baffle (air guide plate) is improved, specifically, an air inlet a is respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the fuel cell baffle 1, an air outlet B is respectively arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the fuel cell baffle 1, the air inlet a arranged at the upper end of the baffle is communicated with the air outlet B arranged at the lower end of the baffle through three baffle grooves 2, the air inlet a arranged at the lower end of the baffle is also communicated with the air outlet B arranged at the upper end of the baffle through three baffle grooves 2, the air coming from the air inlet at the upper end of the baffle is called afirst path of air, the air coming from the air inlet at the lower end of the baffle is called a second path of air, and the first path of air and the second path of air travel along the respective baffle grooves in opposite, the air from the air inlets at the upper end and the lower end of the guide plate is uniformly fed from the same air source Q, and the air from the air outlets at the upper end and the lower end of the guide plate is combined and uniformly discharged from the pipeline W; the air coming from the air inlet at the upper end of the guide plate is in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the air reaches the middle part and the lower part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the lower part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, the air coming from the air inlet at the lower end of the guide plate is also in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that the water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the air reaches the middle part and the upper part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the upper part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, and the comprehensive effect ensures that the whole proton exchange membrane.

Claims (5)

1. A method for making proton exchange membrane in fuel cell get even water distribution, characterized by, improve the structure of the fuel cell deflector, specifically set up a gas inlet on the upper, lower end or left, right end of the fuel cell deflector respectively, set up a gas outlet on the upper, lower end or left, right end of the fuel cell deflector respectively at the same time, the said gas inlet set up in upper end of deflector communicates with gas outlet set up in lower end of deflector through at least one diversion trench, the said gas inlet set up in lower end of deflector communicates with gas outlet set up in upper end of deflector through at least one diversion trench too, the gas that comes in from gas inlet of upper, lower end of deflector respectively walks along the respective diversion trench relatively in reverse direction, go out from gas outlet of upper, lower end of deflector respectively; the gas coming from the gas inlet at the upper end of the guide plate is in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the gas reaches the middle part and the lower part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the lower part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, the gas coming from the gas inlet at the lower end of the guide plate is also in a dry state when entering the electrode, so that the water in the proton exchange membrane in the electrode is easily taken away, a large amount of water is generated when the gas reaches the middle part and the upper part of the electrode along with the occurrence of electrochemical reaction, so that the upper part of the proton exchange membrane is humidified, and the comprehensive effect ensures that the whole proton exchange membrane.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas is an oxidant gas or a fuel hydrogen gas.
3. A method for achieving uniform water distribution in a proton exchange membrane in a fuel cell as claimed in claim 2, wherein said oxidant gas is air or oxygen.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas from the gas inlets at the upper and lower ends or left andright ends of the baffle plate is from the same gas source and is uniformly fed.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the gas from the gas outlets at the upper and lower ends or the left and right ends of the baffle plate are combined to provide a uniform water distribution.
CNB011131535A 2001-06-29 2001-06-29 Method for uniform distribution of water in proton exhcnage membrane for fuel battery Expired - Lifetime CN100337359C (en)

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112909283A (en) * 2021-03-22 2021-06-04 苏州弗尔赛能源科技股份有限公司 Proton exchange membrane fuel cell bipolar plate

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6207312B1 (en) * 1998-09-18 2001-03-27 Energy Partners, L.C. Self-humidifying fuel cell

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112909283A (en) * 2021-03-22 2021-06-04 苏州弗尔赛能源科技股份有限公司 Proton exchange membrane fuel cell bipolar plate

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