CN210576253U

CN210576253U - Fuel cell mounting member and fuel cell stack

Info

Publication number: CN210576253U
Application number: CN201921630439.7U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李伟; 胡玉凤
Original assignee: Zhangjiakou Carboding Equipment Engineering Technology Co Ltd; Zhangjiakou Hydrogen Technology Co Ltd; Beijing Sinohydrogen Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Zhangjiakou Carboding Equipment Engineering Technology Co Ltd; Zhangjiakou Hydrogen Technology Co Ltd; Beijing Sinohydrogen Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-27
Filing date: 2019-09-27
Publication date: 2020-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 2029-09-27

Abstract

A fuel cell mounting member and a fuel cell stack are disclosed. The fuel cell mounting member includes: two end plates for being assembled at both ends of the single cell stacked body in the stacking direction, respectively; the at least two clasps are respectively arranged on two sides of the end plate; the clamp comprises a clamp body and clamping parts arranged at two ends of the clamp body; two clamping parts on the same clamp are respectively in clamping fit with the two end plates. The pressing mechanism formed by the end plate and the clamp is simple in structure and compact in structure, the end plate and the clamp are automatically matched for locking, and a third mechanism is not needed for providing a locking function.

Description

Fuel cell mounting member and fuel cell stack

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), and particularly relates to a fuel Cell assembly component and a fuel Cell stack.

Background

The fuel cell is an energy conversion device, directly converts chemical energy stored in fuel gas and oxidant gas into electric energy through electrochemical reaction, has the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency and less environmental pollution, and has wide application prospect.

A fuel cell generally has a stack structure in which a plurality of unit cells are stacked, and the industry is generally referred to as a fuel cell stack. Each cell has the following structure: a Membrane Electrode (MEA) and a Bipolar Plate (BP) have gas flow channels formed therebetween for supplying reaction gases along the Membrane Electrode surface. The reactant gas flows from a supply manifold of the reactant gas provided at the outer edge portion of the bipolar plate, through the surface of the membrane electrode, and toward an exhaust manifold provided at the outer edge portion opposite to the outer edge portion of the supply manifold. The operation principle of generating electricity by supplying a fuel gas to the surface of an anode electrode constituting a fuel cell MEA and supplying an oxidant gas to the surface of the other cathode electrode to cause an electrochemical reaction is as follows:

anode: h₂→2H⁺+2e^-

Cathode: 1/2O₂+H⁺+2e^-→H₂O

And (3) battery reaction: h₂+1/2O₂→H₂O

The fuel cell can be classified into an air-cooled fuel cell (hereinafter, referred to as an air-cooled fuel cell) and a liquid-cooled fuel cell due to different cooling modes, and the air-cooled fuel cell has the advantages of simple and compact structure, rapid power supply reaction and the like, so that the air-cooled fuel cell is widely applied to scenes such as a standby power supply, an unmanned power cell, a forklift power cell, a portable power supply and the like.

Portable fuel cell systems are currently gaining wide market acceptance. Compared with a lithium battery, the portable fuel cell system has obvious advantages in mass energy density and volume energy density, and can enable electronic consumer products to have longer endurance time under the same mass and volume. Portable fuel cell systems require the use of more compact fuel cell stacks, and therefore the design of a compact, simple, reliable, low-cost fuel cell assembly is a prerequisite for a wide range of applications for portable fuel cell systems.

The patent publication numbers are: the invention patent of CN104471775A discloses a compression system for a fuel cell stack, which describes a compression system comprising: an end plate, an asymmetric leaf spring, and a tension member. The compression system is complex, the clamping and positioning of the end plates are completed by matching the asymmetric plate spring with the tensioning mechanism, the number of required structural members is large, the design of the compression system is complex, and the cost is high.

The patent publication numbers are: the CN104995781A patent discloses a fuel cell stack assembly and method of assembly, which describes a compression system comprising: the first packaging component, the second packaging component and two locking components. The compression system requires two locking members to lock the first and second enclosure members to complete compression fastening of the stack assembly. All compression system components are of sheet metal structures, and the locking components can effectively lock displacement in the stacking direction of the stacks, but the displacement limiting capacity of the compression system components normal to the stacking direction of the stacks is limited.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-described deficiencies or inadequacies in the prior art, it would be desirable to provide a fuel cell mounting member and a fuel cell stack.

The present application provides a fuel cell assembly member, comprising:

two end plates for being assembled at both ends of the single cell stacked body in the stacking direction, respectively; and

at least two clasps respectively arranged at two sides of the end plate; the clamp comprises a clamp body and clamping parts arranged at two ends of the clamp body; two clamping parts on the same clamp are respectively in clamping fit with the two end plates.

The pressing mechanism formed by the end plate and the clamp is simple in structure and compact in structure, the end plate and the clamp are automatically matched for locking, and a third mechanism is not needed for providing a locking function.

Further, the clamping part comprises a shoulder part; the shoulder part is in a U shape with an opening facing the direction of the end plate; the end plate is provided with a supporting part which is used for clamping and matching with the shoulder part; the supporting part is groove-shaped, and the cross section of the supporting part corresponds to the shoulder. The end plate support portion contacts the catching shoulder portion and functions to restrict displacement of the end plate due to reverse elastic force of the single cell stacked body in a compressed state. Embrace and block the shoulder and extend to end plate inside, can have wider contact with the end plate supporting part, provide more even packing force distribution for the end plate.

Furthermore, the shoulder part is protruded to one side of the clamp body near the opening end to form a protruding part; the corresponding position of the supporting part is concave to form a locking part which is used for being matched and locked with the protruding part. The end plate locking part is meshed with the clasping protrusion part and used for preventing the end plate and the clasping device from generating displacement in the stacking direction of the monocells in a normal direction so as to enable the end plate and the clasping device to be disengaged.

Further, the shoulder part is connected with the clamp body through the leading-in part; the corresponding position of the end plate side end is provided with a gap which can accommodate the leading-in part and is called as a guide part. The end plate guide part is matched with the clamping guide-in part, so that the fuel cell pressing mechanism is convenient to assemble, and the end plate and the clamping are limited to generate displacement along the normal direction of the stacking direction of the monocells.

Furthermore, the holding clamps connected to the same side of the end plate are independent from each other, or are connected with each other through the adjacent holding clamp bodies. One, two or more clasps can be arranged on the same side of the end plate according to the size of the fuel cell stack; when two or more holding clamps are arranged on the same side of the end plate, each holding clamp can be independent or connected with each other.

Further, the clamping part comprises a clamping arm; the clamping arm is vertical to the clamping body and extends to one side of the end plate; the end plate is provided with a clamping arm groove matched with the clamping arm in a clamping way. The holding clamp only provided with the clamping arm as the clamping part is a holding clamp with a simpler structure, can be used independently, can be used simultaneously, and can also be used together with the holding clamp provided with the shoulder part.

Further, the surface of the end plate adjacent to the cell stack body is a flat surface or a convex curved surface. The end plates are subjected to a pressing force so as to be elastically deformed to be coupled to the shape of the inner side surfaces of the end plates in contact with the cell stack body, in order to be able to provide a uniformly distributed pressing force to the cell stack body.

Further, the side of the clasper adjacent to the single cell stacked body is coated with an insulating coating. The insulating coating can be engineering plastics, resin fiber, bakelite, rubber and other insulating materials, such as polytetrafluoroethylene and the like.

In a second aspect, the present application also provides a fuel cell stack comprising a single cell stack and the above-described fuel cell assembly; the two end plates are respectively pressed at two ends of the single battery stacking body along the stacking direction; each holding clamp is clamped on two sides of the two end plates.

The application has the advantages and positive effects that: the pressing mechanism that the end plate and the armful card meshing constitute of this application simple structure, constitute the compactness, the end plate matches the locking with armful card by oneself, need not the third mechanism and provides the locking function. In the preferred scheme, the end plate and the holding clamp are provided with three-dimensional locking and limiting functions, so that the fuel cell stack structure is firm; the end plate can be manufactured through an injection process, the clamp can be manufactured through a sheet metal stamping process, and the two processes are mature and large-scale application processes, so that the production cost is reduced.

In addition to the technical problems addressed by the present application, the technical features constituting the technical solutions, and the advantages brought by the technical features of the technical solutions described above, other technical problems solved by the present application, other technical features included in the technical solutions, and advantages brought by the technical features will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments thereof, made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a fuel cell stack provided in example 1 of the present application;

figure 2 is a top view of a fuel cell stack as provided in example 1 of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a first end plate in a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a clasping mechanism in a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing a section R-R in FIG. 2;

fig. 8 is an exploded view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 2 of the present application;

fig. 9 is an exploded view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 3 of the present application;

fig. 10 is an exploded view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in example 4 of the present application;

fig. 11 is an exploded view of a fuel cell mounting member provided in embodiment 5 of the present application.

Description of reference numerals:

10-fuel cell stack

12-first terminal collector plate

14-second terminal collector plate

16-single cell

20-Fuel cell Assembly Member

22-first end plate

24-second end plate

26-clasping card

26' -combined clamp

26' -simple holding clamp

31-support part

32-first end plate outer side

33-locking part

34-first end medial side

35-guide part

36-second end plate outer side

38-second end panel medial side

39-card arm groove

41-shoulder

42-outer side surface of clamp

43-projection

44-inner side surface of clasping card

45-introduction part

46-card arm

50-single cell stacked body

Detailed Description

The present application will be described in further detail with reference to the following drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the relevant invention and not restrictive of the invention. It should be noted that, for convenience of description, only the portions related to the present invention are shown in the drawings.

It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict. The present application will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 1-7, the present embodiment provides a fuel cell assembly, a fuel cell stack and a fuel cell assembly method.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the Z direction is along the stacking direction of the single cell stack, the X direction is along the line connecting the two clasping centers, and the Y direction is perpendicular to both the X direction and the Y direction, in accordance with the orientation shown in fig. 1. The fuel cell stack 10 has a stack structure in which a plurality of single cells 16 are stacked in the Z direction (hereinafter referred to as the "stacking direction") and sandwiched by a first end plate 22 and a second end plate 24. The first end collector plate 12 is placed between the first end plate 22 and the single cells 16, and the second end collector plate 14 is placed between the second end plate 24 and the single cells 16. The one or more cells 16, together with the first end collector plate 12 and the second end collector plate 14, constitute a cell stack 50. Two clasps 26 are respectively placed at both ends of the stacked body 50 in the X direction.

With further reference to fig. 3 and 4, the fuel cell mounting member 20 is formed of a pair of end plates (a first end plate 22 and a second end plate 24) in combination with a pair of clasps 26. Wherein the

end plates

22, 24 and the clasps 26 are symmetrical structures. The first end endplate 22 has a first end endplate inner side 34 facing the stack 50 and a first end endplate outer side 32 facing away from the stack 50. The same second end plate 24 has a second end plate inner side 38 facing the stack 50 and a second end plate outer side 36 facing away from the stack 50. The first end plate inner side 34 and the second end plate inner side 38 have a planar configuration, but may in other embodiments be designed with a convex curvature, in order to distribute the pressing force of the stack 50 more evenly, since the end plates are subjected to the pressing force such that they are elastically deformed and coupled to the shape of the inner side of the end plates in contact with the stack 50.

The clasping card 26 is provided with a clasping inner side surface 44 which is contacted with the single cell stacked body 50 and a clasping outer side surface 42 which is opposite to the single cell stacked body 50, and the clasping inner side surface 44 is coated with a polytetrafluoroethylene coating, so that the clasping card is electrically isolated from the single cells 16, the short circuit of the fuel cell stack 10 is prevented, and meanwhile, the edges of the single cells 16 are buffered and limited, and the single cells 16 are prevented from being displaced and damaged.

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, the two ends of the clasps 26 along the direction of the stacked body 50 (Z direction) are designed symmetrically, and include a clasp body in the middle and clasping portions disposed at the two ends of the clasp body. The clamping part comprises a shoulder part 41; the shoulder 41 is U-shaped with an opening facing the end plate; the end plates (the first end plate 22 and the second end plate 24) are provided with a supporting part 31 used for being in clamping fit with the shoulder part 41; the support portion 31 has a groove shape, and the cross-sectional shape corresponds to the shoulder portion 41. The end plate support portion 31 contacts the catching shoulder portion 41 and functions to restrict displacement of the end plate due to the reverse spring force of the cell stack body 50 in the compressed state. The clasping shoulder 41 extends inwardly of the end plate and can make wider contact with the end plate support 31 to provide a more uniform distribution of compression force to the end plate.

The shoulder part 41 is close to the opening end and protrudes towards one side of the clamp body to form a protruding part 43; the corresponding position of the supporting portion 31 is recessed to form a locking portion 33 for locking with the protrusion 43. The end plate locking portion 33 is engaged with the clasping protrusion 43 to prevent the end plate and the clasping unit from moving in the normal direction of the cell stacking direction, so that the end plate and the clasping unit are disengaged.

The shoulder part is connected with the clamp body through the lead-in part; a notch, called a guide part 35, is provided at a position corresponding to the side end of the end plate to receive the lead-in part. The end plate guide part 35 is matched with the clasping guide-in part 45, so that the fuel cell pressing mechanism is convenient to assemble, and the end plate and the clasping are limited to generate displacement along the normal direction of the single cell stacking direction.

Wherein the support portion 31, the locking portion 33 and the guiding portion 35 all have a "slot" structure, and the shoulder portion 41, the protrusion portion 43 and the guiding portion 45 all have a "key" structure, so the classic limit and fastening structure of "slot" and "key" can achieve perfect engagement of the first end plate 22 and the clasping clamp 26, and at the same time limit displacement of the first end plate 22 in the X/Y/Z direction. The second end plate also has the same engagement structure and will not be repeated here.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing a section indicated in fig. 2. The tight engagement of the shoulder 41 with the support 31 is clearly shown, which serves to limit the displacement of the

end plate

22 or 24 due to the opposing spring forces in the compressed state of the stack 50, and the extension of the shoulder 41 into the interior of the

end plate

22 or 24 is effective to increase the contact area and optimize the uniform distribution of the pressing force. The locking portion 33 has a deeper groove structure than the supporting portion 31, and the protrusion 43 extends outward to form the shoulder 41, so that the protrusion 43 and the locking portion 33 form a limiting mechanism in the X direction, which can effectively prevent the

end plate

22 or 24 and the clasping clip 26 from disengaging due to vibration, falling, extrusion and other reasons of the fuel cell stack 10.

The fuel cell stack 10 is provided with the clasps 26 having a specified compression spacing, and during assembly of the fuel cell stack 10, it is necessary to compress the stack 50 to a distance less than the specified value to allow the clasps 26 to be successfully mounted to the

end plates

22 and 24, and then release the compressive force, and the stack 50 will rebound due to compression to the specified compression spacing while the

end plates

22 and 24 and clasps 26 are fully engaged.

The end plate is meshed with the clamp, the position of the end plate can be effectively limited by the clamp, and the assembly position of the end plate can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the clamp; the end plate can be made of a material with better rigidity and toughness by a mould injection process, and the material can be carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, engineering plastics, resin fiber and the like; the holding clamp is made of a sheet metal stamping process, and the holding clamp can be made of cold-rolled steel plates, stainless steel plates, aluminum alloy plates and the like.

Example 2

This embodiment provides a fuel cell mounting member, a fuel cell stack, and a fuel cell mounting method, and the main parts are the same as those of embodiment 1, and the description of the same parts will be omitted. The present embodiment is different from embodiment 1 in that:

referring to fig. 8, in the present embodiment, there are a plurality of clasps 26, for example, 3 pairs; accordingly, the end plate is also provided with a plurality of sets of the supporting portion 31, the locking portion 33, and the guide portion 35. The design of this embodiment is primarily intended for larger fuel cell stacks, such as larger liquid cooled fuel cell stacks.

Example 3

This embodiment provides a fuel cell mounting member, a fuel cell stack, and a fuel cell mounting method, and the main parts are the same as those of embodiment 2, and the description of the same parts will be omitted. The present embodiment is different from embodiment 2 in that:

referring further to fig. 9, in the present embodiment, the clasps 26 disposed on the same side of the end plate are connected to each other at the middle portion (i.e., the clasp body portion). To distinguish the conventional clasps 26 in embodiment 2, the clasps in this embodiment may be referred to as a combination clasps 26'.

Example 4

referring to fig. 10, in the present embodiment, there are two clasps; the clamping part of the holding clamp comprises a clamping arm 46; the clamp arm 46 is perpendicular to the clamp body and extends towards one side of the end plate, so that the whole clamp is C-shaped; in order to distinguish the conventional clasping structure in embodiment 2, the clasping structure in this embodiment can be referred to as a simple clasping 26 ". The end plate is provided with a clamping arm groove 39 matched with the clamping arm in a clamping way. The end of the catch arm 46 is also provided with a projection 43 and the corresponding position of the catch arm slot 39 is also provided with a detent 33.

Example 5

referring to fig. 11, in the present embodiment, there are 3 pairs of clasps; two pairs at two ends adopt the structure of the conventional clasping clamp 26 in the embodiment 2, and the middle pair 1 adopts the structure of the simple clasping clamp 26' in the embodiment 4. The adoption of the clasping snap in different forms can reduce the cost and the weight under the condition of ensuring the stability of the fuel cell stack.

As is well known, fuel cell stacks are divided into two cooling types, air-cooled stacks and liquid-cooled stacks, and the present application can be used for both air-cooled and liquid-cooled stacks; for example, embodiment 1 may be an air-cooled fuel cell stack and embodiment 2 may be a liquid-cooled fuel cell stack.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the application and is illustrative of the principles of the technology employed. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the scope of the invention as referred to in the present application is not limited to the embodiments with a specific combination of the above-mentioned features, but also covers other embodiments with any combination of the above-mentioned features or their equivalents without departing from the inventive concept. For example, the above features may be replaced with (but not limited to) features having similar functions disclosed in the present application.

Claims

1. A fuel cell mounting member, characterized by comprising:

two end plates for being assembled at both ends of the single cell stacked body in a stacking direction, respectively;

at least two clasps respectively arranged at two sides of the end plate; the clamp comprises a clamp body and clamping parts arranged at two ends of the clamp body; the two clamping parts on the same holding clamp are respectively matched with the two end plates in a clamping manner.

2. The fuel cell mounting member according to claim 1, wherein the snap-in portion includes a shoulder portion; the shoulder part is U-shaped with an opening facing the direction of the end plate; the end plate is provided with a supporting part which is used for being clamped and matched with the shoulder part; the supporting part is groove-shaped, and the cross section of the supporting part corresponds to the shoulder.

3. The fuel cell mounting structure according to claim 2, wherein the shoulder portion protrudes toward the side of the clasping body near the open end to form a protrusion; the corresponding position of the supporting part is recessed to form a locking part which is used for being matched and locked with the protruding part.

4. The fuel cell mounting member according to claim 2, wherein the shoulder portion and the clasping body are connected by a lead-in portion; and a notch capable of accommodating the leading-in part is arranged at the corresponding position of the side end of the end plate.

5. The fuel cell mounting structure according to claim 2, wherein the respective clasps attached to the same side of the end plate are independent of each other or are connected to each other via adjacent ones of the clasp bodies.

6. The fuel cell mounting member according to claim 1, wherein the click portion includes a click arm; the clamping arm is perpendicular to the clamping body and extends towards one side of the end plate; and the end plate is provided with a clamping arm groove matched with the clamping arm in a clamping way.

7. The fuel cell assembly according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the end plate that is close to the cell stack is a flat surface or a convexly curved surface.

8. The fuel cell mounting member according to claim 1, wherein a side of the clasper that is close to the cell stack is coated with an insulating coating.

9. A fuel cell stack characterized by comprising a single cell stack and a fuel cell mounting member according to any one of claims 1 to 8; the two end plates are respectively pressed at two ends of the single battery stacking body along the stacking direction; each holding clamp is clamped on two sides of the two end plates.