CN218447995U

CN218447995U - Fuel cell

Info

Publication number: CN218447995U
Application number: CN202222266090.1U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈圣亿
Original assignee: Lufeng New Materials Guangdong Co ltd
Current assignee: Lufeng New Materials Guangdong Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-26
Filing date: 2022-08-26
Publication date: 2023-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2032-08-26

Abstract

The application provides a fuel cell, which comprises a cell stack formed by stacking a plurality of single cells along a first direction, a total cathode current collecting plate arranged at the near end of the cell stack and a total anode current collecting plate arranged at the far end of the cell stack; three inlet channels and three outlet channels are provided in the fuel cell, each inlet channel being for supplying hydrogen, air and cooling water, respectively; each outlet channel is respectively used for discharging redundant hydrogen, redundant air, liquid water and cooling water; each outlet channel is obliquely arranged, and the height position of the far end of each outlet channel is lower than that of the near end of each outlet channel; and a drain pipe provided in the outlet passage, the drain pipe being for discharging the liquid water and/or the cooling water accumulated at the distal end of the outlet passage. The application provides a fuel cell is difficult for remaining liquid water in the exit channel to can avoid the single metal ion of battery to separate out.

Description

Fuel cell

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of new energy batteries, and particularly relates to a fuel cell.

Background

The fuel cell is used as a clean and efficient power source and is increasingly applied to new energy vehicles. Which is a process in which a redox reaction occurs at a membrane electrode therein by means of hydrogen and air, thereby generating electric energy and reaction products.

Specifically, the fuel cell comprises a plurality of single cells, wherein each single cell is provided with flow field plates at an anode and a cathode, a proton exchange membrane is arranged between the two flow field plates, and a gas diffusion layer and a catalyst layer are arranged between each flow field plate and the proton exchange membrane.

Meanwhile, the fuel cell is provided with an outlet channel and an inlet channel, wherein the inlet channel is used for inputting hydrogen, air and cooling water, and the outlet channel is used for discharging residual hydrogen and air in the reaction, liquid water generated in the reaction and cooling water for cooling and radiating.

The reaction process is as follows: hydrogen is delivered to a flow field plate of an anode, the hydrogen generates electrochemical reaction at a catalyst layer after passing through a gas diffusion layer to generate electrons and hydrogen cations, hydroxide ions enter and pass through a proton exchange membrane, and the electrons are conducted to the cathode side through an external circuit; air is delivered to the flow field plate of the cathode, passes through the gas diffusion layer together with electrons, is combined with hydrogen cations in the catalyst layer and is reduced by the electrons, so that water is generated through an oxidation-reduction reaction, and liquid water generated through the reaction enters the outlet channel.

Generally speaking, in a fuel cell, liquid water in an outlet channel is generally discharged by using gas pressure, however, since the outlet channel is communicated with the outside, although the gas pressure can blow most of the liquid water in the outlet channel out of the outlet channel, a part of the liquid water still remains in the outlet channel, as the amount of the remaining water increases, the liquid water is sucked back into a cell by a flow field plate, and metal ions in the flow field plate on the cell are separated out, and the separated metal ions damage a gas exchange membrane and a catalyst layer, so that catalytic efficiency is reduced, and cell performance is affected.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a fuel cell, so as to solve the technical problem existing in the prior art that liquid water is easily remained in an outlet channel of the cell.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the application is as follows: provided is a fuel cell including:

the battery pack comprises a battery stack formed by stacking a plurality of battery units along a first direction, a total cathode current collecting plate arranged at the near end of the battery stack and a total anode current collecting plate arranged at the far end of the battery stack;

three first inlets and three first outlets are arranged on two sides of each single battery in the first direction, and three second inlets and three second outlets are arranged on two sides of the total cathode current collecting plate in the first direction; each first inlet and each second inlet are stacked and communicated in a first direction to form an inlet channel; each first outlet and each second outlet are stacked and communicated in a first direction to form an outlet channel; each outlet channel is obliquely arranged, and the height position of the far end of each outlet channel is lower than that of the near end of each outlet channel;

wherein each of the inlet channels is used for supplying hydrogen, air and cooling water, respectively; each outlet channel is used for discharging redundant hydrogen, redundant air, liquid water and cooling water;

a drain provided in the outlet channel for draining the liquid water and/or the cooling water accumulated at a distal end of the outlet channel.

Optionally, the axis of the outlet passage is angled from 6 ° to 16 ° from horizontal.

Optionally, the inlet channels comprise a hydrogen inlet channel, an air inlet channel, and a cooling water inlet channel; the outlet channels comprise a hydrogen outlet channel, an air outlet channel and a cooling water outlet channel; wherein, in the vertical direction, the inlet channel of the hydrogen is higher than the outlet channel of the hydrogen, and the inlet channel of the air is higher than the outlet channel of the air.

Optionally, the fuel cell is disposed obliquely in the second direction.

Alternatively, the fuel cell may be inclined at an angle of 0 ° to 11 ° with respect to the horizontal direction.

Optionally, each of the outlet channels has at least a first cross-section and a second cross-section with different areas, wherein the first cross-section with the larger area is located at the distal end of the outlet channel and the second cross-section with the smaller area is located at the proximal end of the outlet channel.

Optionally, the area of the second cross-section is 1/3 to 2/3 of the area of the first cross-section.

Optionally, the cross section of each first outlet is a first cross section, and the cross section of each second outlet is a second cross section.

Optionally, the drain pipe penetrates through the total cathode collector plate, and the second outlet is disposed on one side of the drain pipe.

Optionally, in each of the battery cells, a height of a lowest position in the first outlet is lower than a lowest height of a flow field channel in a flow field plate on the battery cell.

The fuel cell provided by the application has at least the following beneficial effects:

firstly, the outlet channel is obliquely arranged so that the height of the far end of the outlet channel is lower than that of the near end of the outlet channel, so that the near end of the outlet channel has a certain height compared with that of the far end of the outlet channel, and liquid water generated by electrochemical reaction of each battery cell can converge to the far end of the outlet channel; then, through adding the drain pipe in outlet channel, when hydrogen, air discharged to outlet channel from each battery monomer, gaseous liquid water pump that the outlet channel distal end was saved is to the drain pipe in, because the diameter of drain pipe is less than outlet channel's diameter, promptly, the drainage flow of drain pipe is less than the drainage flow of former outlet channel, so, gaseous in with the in-process of pumping water to the drain pipe, can reduce the loss of gas pressure in the drainage in-process, also can increase the pump lift of liquid water to make the liquid water in the outlet channel discharge as far as possible, thereby reduce the residue of liquid water.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the prior art description will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive labor.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a fuel cell in an assembled state according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a fuel cell in an assembled state according to other embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an outlet channel in some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an outlet channel in accordance with further embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a cell stack according to some embodiments of the present application;

fig. 6 is a front view of an overall cathode collector plate in some embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a fuel cell in some embodiments of the present application tilted in a second direction;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram showing each inlet type and each outlet type in fig. 5.

Wherein, in the figures, the various reference numbers:

100. a battery cell;

200. a total cathode collector plate;

300. a total anode current collector plate;

400. an inlet channel;

410. a first inlet; 411. a hydrogen inlet; 412. an air inlet; 413. a cooling water inlet;

420. a second inlet;

500. an outlet channel;

510. a first outlet; 511. a hydrogen outlet; 512. an air outlet; 513. a cooling water outlet;

520. a second outlet;

600. and a water discharge pipe.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantageous effects to be solved by the present application clearer, the present application is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad application.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or be indirectly on the other element. When an element is referred to as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or be indirectly connected to the other element.

It will be understood that the terms "length," "width," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like are used in an orientation or positional relationship indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the application and to simplify the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element so referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be constructed in operation as a limitation of the application.

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 to implicitly indicate the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

Referring to fig. 1 to 8 together, a fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present application will now be described.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the fuel cell includes a stack formed by stacking a plurality of unit cells 100 in a first direction, a total cathode current collecting plate 200 disposed at a proximal end of the stack, and a total anode current collecting plate 300 disposed at a distal end of the stack.

Referring to fig. 5, in each of the battery cells 100, three first inlets 410 and three first outlets 510 are provided at both sides in the first direction thereof, the three first inlets 410 are respectively used for a hydrogen inlet 411, an air inlet 412 and a cooling water inlet 413, and the three first outlets 510 are respectively used for a hydrogen outlet 511, an air outlet 512 and a cooling water outlet 513.

Referring to fig. 6, also, three second inlets 420 and three second outlets 520 are provided at both sides of the overall cathode current collecting plate 200 in the first direction, the three second inlets 420 being for an inlet of hydrogen, an inlet of air, and an inlet of cooling water, respectively, and the three second outlets 520 being for an outlet of hydrogen, an outlet of air, and an outlet of cooling water, respectively.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, and fig. 7, after the cell stack, the total cathode current collecting plate 200, and the total anode current collecting plate 300 are assembled as one body, each of the first inlet 410 and the second inlet 420 is stacked in series in the first direction to form an inlet channel 400, and each of the first outlet 510 and the second outlet 520 is stacked in series in the first direction to form an outlet channel 500. It will be appreciated that the outlet of the outlet channel 500 is located at the proximal end of the fuel cell, and likewise, the inlet of the inlet channel 400 is located at the proximal end of the fuel cell.

Further, referring to fig. 1 to 4, each outlet channel 500 is obliquely arranged, and the height position of the distal end thereof is lower than the height position of the proximal end thereof. It should be understood that the outlet channel 500 is disposed obliquely, referring to a horizontal position of the fuel cell in an operating state.

For example, referring to fig. 1, in a first arrangement, in a mounting environment on a vehicle, the fuel cell is arranged obliquely, i.e., the height of the proximal end of the fuel cell is higher than the height of the distal end thereof, and each outlet channel 500 is arranged parallel to the length direction of the fuel cell, so that the height of the distal end of each outlet channel 500 is lower than the height of the proximal end thereof.

For another example, referring to fig. 2, in a second arrangement, in an assembly environment on a vehicle, the fuel cell is horizontally arranged, and each outlet channel 500 is obliquely arranged with respect to the length direction of the fuel cell, so that even if the fuel cell is horizontally arranged, the height position of the proximal end of the outlet channel 500 is higher than the height position of the distal end thereof.

In the second arrangement, the outlet channel 500 is disposed obliquely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the fuel cell, and specifically, the outlet channel may be: in the battery cells 100 sequentially stacked in the first direction, the first outlets 510 of the battery cells 100 are located at different heights, that is, the height of the first outlet 510 near the proximal end of the stack is higher than the height of the first outlet 510 near the distal end of the stack, so that when the battery cells 100 are stacked in the first direction, the first outlets 510 located at different heights are stacked in series with each other to form the inclined outlet channel 500.

In the case where the outlet passage 500 is provided obliquely with respect to the first direction as described above, referring to fig. 3 and 4, a drain pipe 600 is further provided in each outlet passage 500, the drain pipe 600 ending at the distal end of the outlet passage 500 and abutting against the bottom of the outlet passage 500.

By arranging the outlet channel 500 obliquely, liquid water generated by the electrochemical reaction of each battery cell 100 can be converged to the bottom of the outlet channel 500 after flowing out of the first outlet 510.

And a drain pipe 600 is provided in the outlet passage 500, and the end of the drain pipe 600 abuts against the bottom of the outlet passage 500, such that:

in a first aspect, liquid water accumulated at the distal end of the outlet channel 500 is allowed to flow into the drain pipe 600 by pumping of gas pressure, thereby discharging the outlet channel 500 through the drain pipe 600;

in the second aspect, since the diameter of the drain pipe 600 is smaller than the inner diameter of the outlet channel 500, the drain pipe 600 is disposed in the outlet channel 500 to reduce the drainage flow rate of the outlet channel 500, and the drainage head of the drain pipe 600 can be increased under a certain air pressure, so that the liquid water at the distal end of the outlet channel 500 can be sufficiently pumped to the outside of the outlet channel 500;

in the third aspect, the provision of the drain pipe 600 in the outlet channel 500 also enables the volume of the outlet channel 500 to be reduced, and in the case where the pressure of the gas flowing out of the battery cell 100 is not changed, the gas pressure in the outlet channel 500 can be increased to reduce the loss of pressure in the outlet channel 500, thereby further increasing the drainage head of the drain pipe 600, so that the gas pressure can sufficiently pump the liquid water accumulated at the distal end of the outlet channel 500 out of the drain pipe 600, thereby improving the drainage efficiency.

In conclusion, the arrangement of the present application can effectively reduce the residual of the liquid water in the outlet channel 500, so as to avoid the phenomenon that the residual of the liquid water in the outlet channel 500 causes the metal ions in the flow field plates on the single cells 100 to be separated out, which causes the damage of the gas exchange membrane, the catalyst layer and other related structural components in the single cells 100, thereby affecting the performance of the fuel cell.

Further, the drainage pipe 600 is made of a corrosion-resistant material, such as PP. Thus, the drain pipe 600 is not easy to corrode, and the situation that the pressure loss or water leakage of the drain pipe occurs in the draining process due to corrosion can be avoided.

Further, referring to fig. 1-4, in some embodiments of the present application, the angle α between the axis of the outlet channel 500 and the first direction is between 6 ° and 16 °. In this way, the discharge head of the drain pipe 600 can be in a desired interval, so that the liquid water at the distal end of the outlet channel 500 can be sufficiently pumped to the outside of the drain pipe 600.

It is understood that the inlet passage 400 includes a hydrogen inlet passage, an air inlet passage, and a cooling water inlet passage; the outlet passages 500 include a hydrogen gas outlet passage, an air outlet passage, and a cooling water outlet passage. Referring to fig. 8, taking each of the battery cells 100 as an example, the three first inlets 410 are a hydrogen inlet 411, an air inlet 412, and a cooling water inlet 413, respectively, and the three first outlets 510 are a hydrogen outlet 511, an air outlet 512, and a cooling water outlet 513, respectively. In the fuel cell, the hydrogen outlet channel is used for discharging the hydrogen left by the electrochemical reaction and the liquid water generated by the reaction; the air outlet channel is used for discharging air remained by the electrochemical reaction and liquid water generated by the reaction.

Specifically, in the battery cell 100, after hydrogen cations are combined with oxygen anions to generate water at a flow field plate of an anode, the water flows out of the battery cell 100 from a hydrogen outlet 511 under the pushing of the gas flow of hydrogen; similarly, after oxygen anions and hydrogen cations are combined to generate water in the flow field plate of the cathode, the water flows out of the battery cell 100 from the air outlet 512 under the push of the air flow; and the cooling water flows into the battery cell 100 from the cooling water inlet 413, then carries away heat generated by the battery cell 100 during the oxidation-reduction reaction, and finally flows out from the cooling water outlet 513.

Further, referring to fig. 5 to 8, in the height position, the inlet passage 400 of hydrogen is higher than the outlet passage 500 thereof, and the inlet passage 400 of air is higher than the outlet passage 500 thereof. In this way, in each single cell 100, the liquid water generated by the redox reaction can rapidly and thoroughly leave the single cell 100 and enter the outlet channel 500 from each first outlet 510 under the action of the air flow blowing and gravity, so as to avoid the residual accumulation of the liquid water in the single cell 100 and the precipitation of metal ions in the flow field plate.

Specifically, in order to make the inlet channel 400 of hydrogen higher than the outlet channel 500 thereof and the inlet channel 400 of air higher than the outlet channel 500 thereof, each of the first and

second inlets

410 and 420 may have the following arrangement.

In the first arrangement, in general, in each of the unit cells 100, the hydrogen inlet 411 and the hydrogen outlet 511 are located on both sides in the first direction, as are the air inlet 412 and the air outlet 512, and the cooling water inlet 413 and the cooling water outlet 513. Meanwhile, in each of the battery cells 100, and in the vertical line of defense, the hydrogen inlet 411 may be higher than the hydrogen outlet 511, and the air inlet 412 may be higher than the air outlet 512, so that a certain height difference may be provided between each inlet and each outlet, so that liquid water in the battery cell 100 can be sufficiently discharged.

Second arrangement, referring to fig. 7, in addition to the first arrangement described above, the fuel cells are arranged to be inclined in a second direction, that is, the height of the left side of the stack is lower than the height of the right side thereof in a front view. Further, the inclination angle β of the fuel cell with respect to the horizontal direction is 0 ° to 11 °, so that the liquid water accumulated at the distal end of each outlet channel 500 can be sufficiently pumped to the drain pipe 600 and discharged out of each outlet channel 500.

It will be appreciated with reference to fig. 3 to 7 that, in any of the above embodiments, each outlet channel 500 has at least a first section B and a second section a of different areas, wherein the first section B of larger area is located at the distal end of the outlet channel 500 and the second section a of smaller area is located at the proximal end of the outlet channel 500. That is, the outlet channel 500 is of variable cross-section. The outlet channel 500 is configured such that the cross-sectional area of the outlet port of the outlet channel 500 can be reduced, and when various gases are discharged from the outlet port of the outlet channel 500, the loss of the gas pressure inside the outlet channel 500 can be reduced, so that the gas pressure inside the outlet channel 500 is sufficient to pump and discharge the liquid water into the drain pipe 600, thereby reducing the remaining of the liquid water.

Specifically, the cross-section of the outlet channel 500 may be arranged in the following ways.

In a first arrangement, referring to FIG. 3, the outlet channel 500 is tapered, and the base of the taper is the distal end of the outlet channel 500. That is, the areas of the first outlets 510 on each of the battery cells 100 are not equal in the same outlet channel 500.

In a second arrangement, referring to fig. 4-8, in the same outlet channel 500, the areas of the first outlets 510 (i.e., the first cross-sections B) are all equal, and the area of the first outlets 510 is greater than the area of the second outlets 520 (i.e., the second cross-sections a). Thus, since the areas of the first cross-sections B of the respective cells 100 in the stack are all equal, the manufacturing and assembly of the respective cells 100 can be greatly facilitated, and the area of the second cross-section a is smaller than that of the first cross-section B, so that the variable cross-section arrangement of the outlet channel 500 can be achieved after the total cathode current collecting plate 200 is assembled on the proximal end of the stack.

Further, in the second arrangement, the area of the second cross section A is 1/3 to 2/3 of the area of the first cross section B.

Similarly, in the second arrangement, referring to fig. 6 and 7, the drain pipe 600 is inserted into the total cathode collector 200, and the second outlet 520 is disposed at one side of the drain pipe 600. It should be understood that, in fig. 7, a hatched portion represents a partial region of outlet channel 500 that is blocked by total cathode current collecting plate 200.

So set up, when the assembly, can realize the assembly and the location to drain pipe 600 fast, avoid drain pipe 600 position deviation to appear in the assembling process, lead to the unable condition that is located exit channel 500 distal end completely in the bottom of drain pipe 600 to be favorable to ensureing drainage efficiency.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that in some embodiments of the present application, in each cell 100, the height of the lowest position of the first outlet 510 is lower than the lowest height of the flow field channels in the flow field plate on the cell 100. With such an arrangement, an accumulation region is formed in the first outlet 510 and below the lowest height position of the flow field channels of the flow field plate, and after the fuel cell is shut down, when liquid water is gathered in the accumulation region, because the lowest position of the first outlet 510 is lower than the lowest height of the flow field channels in the flow field plate on the cell 100, the liquid water is not easily sucked back into the flow field channels, so that the problem that the liquid water flows back to the flow field channels in the flow field plate, which causes the separation of metal ions in the flow field plate on each cell 100, can be reduced.

The above description is only exemplary of the present application and should not be taken as limiting the present application, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A fuel cell, characterized by comprising:

three first inlets and three first outlets are arranged on two sides of each single battery in the first direction, and three second inlets and three second outlets are arranged on two sides of the total cathode collector plate in the first direction; each first inlet and each second inlet are stacked and communicated in a first direction to form an inlet channel; each first outlet and each second outlet are stacked and communicated in a first direction to form an outlet channel; each outlet channel is obliquely arranged, and the height position of the far end of each outlet channel is lower than that of the near end of each outlet channel;

wherein each of the inlet channels is for supplying hydrogen gas, air and cooling water, respectively; each outlet channel is used for discharging redundant hydrogen, redundant air, liquid water and cooling water;

2. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein: the included angle between the axis of the outlet channel and the horizontal direction is 6-16 degrees.

3. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein:

the inlet passages include a hydrogen inlet passage, an air inlet passage, and a cooling water inlet passage; the outlet channels comprise a hydrogen outlet channel, an air outlet channel and a cooling water outlet channel;

wherein, in the vertical direction, the inlet channel of the hydrogen is higher than the outlet channel of the hydrogen, and the inlet channel of the air is higher than the outlet channel of the air.

4. A fuel cell according to claim 3, wherein: the fuel cell is disposed obliquely in a second direction.

5. The fuel cell according to claim 4, wherein: the fuel cell has an inclination angle of 0 to 11 degrees with respect to the horizontal direction.

6. The fuel cell according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: each outlet channel has at least a first cross-section and a second cross-section of different areas, wherein the first cross-section of larger area is located at the distal end of the outlet channel and the second cross-section of smaller area is located at the proximal end of the outlet channel.

7. The fuel cell of claim 6, wherein: the area of the second cross section is 1/3-2/3 of the area of the first cross section.

8. The fuel cell according to claim 7, wherein: the cross section of each first outlet is a first cross section, and the cross section of each second outlet is a second cross section.

9. The fuel cell according to claim 8, wherein: the drain pipe is arranged in the total cathode collector plate in a penetrating mode, and the second outlet is formed in one side of the drain pipe.

10. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein: in each of the battery cells, the lowest position of the first outlets is lower than the lowest height of the flow field channels in the flow field plate on the battery cell.