JP2008288051A - Insulating container for fuel cell stack and fuel cell device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an insulating container for a fuel cell stack capable of being used for monitoring the voltage of each cell unit composing a fuel cell stack structure. <P>SOLUTION: The insulating container 2 with a lid for housing the fuel cell stack structure 3 formed by stacking two or more cell units 4 includes a wall part lead L1 buried in a peripheral wall part 2A and connected to a voltage terminal Tu of the cell unit 4; a lid part terminal Tc installed in a lid part 2B and connected to the wall part lead L1; a lid part lead L2 buried in the lid part 2B and connected to the lid part Tc ; and a concentrated connector C gathering the lid part lead L2 and connected to a voltage monitor means 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack that can be used to monitor the voltage of each cell unit constituting the fuel cell stack structure, and the heat insulating container for the fuel cell stack structure. The present invention relates to a manufacturing method and a fuel cell device using the heat insulating container.

Conventionally, as a device for monitoring the voltage of each cell of a fuel cell, a device provided with a plurality of cell voltage monitor terminals, a plurality of conductors, and a flexible resin sheet incorporating a plurality of conductors has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-293924 A

  However, such a conventional fuel cell cell voltage monitoring device does not assume high-temperature operation of the fuel cell. For example, at a high temperature of 200 ° C. or higher, the resin sheet containing the conducting wire deteriorates or melts. Therefore, there is a problem that the voltage may not be monitored.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention can be used to monitor the voltage of each battery unit constituting the fuel cell stack structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack, a method for manufacturing the same, and a fuel cell device that can monitor voltage even at high temperatures.

  As a result of intensive studies to achieve the above object, the present inventors have found that the above object can be achieved by embedding a lead or the like in a heat insulating container, and have completed the present invention.

  That is, the heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention is a heat insulating container with a lid that accommodates a fuel cell stack structure formed by stacking a plurality of battery units. The heat insulation container is embedded in the wall portion and connected to the voltage terminal of each of the battery units, the wall portion lead, and the lid portion terminal installed on the lid portion and connected to the wall portion lead. A lid lead embedded in the lid and connected to the lid terminal; and a centralized connector connected to the lid lead and concentrating the lid leads and connected to the voltage monitoring means. It is characterized by that.

  Further, according to the method for manufacturing a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention, when manufacturing a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack as described above, an outer layer of a plurality of layers including a heat insulating material constituting the wall portion is formed. One end side portion of the conductive material constituting the wall lead is disposed on the surface, and then an inner layer having a through hole is laminated on the outer layer, and the other end side of the conductive material is placed in the through hole. A part is inserted to form a molded body having a laminated structure, and then the molded body is fired.

  Furthermore, the fuel cell device of the present invention is characterized by including the above-described heat insulation container for fuel cell stack, a fuel cell stack structure housed in the heat insulation container, and voltage monitoring means.

  According to the present invention, since a lead or the like is embedded in a heat insulating container, the fuel cell stack can be used to monitor the voltage of each battery unit constituting the fuel cell stack structure and can monitor the voltage even at a high temperature. Insulating container, manufacturing method thereof, and fuel cell device can be provided.

  A heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention is a heat insulating container with a lid that accommodates a fuel cell stack structure formed by stacking a plurality of battery units, and is embedded in a wall portion thereof and the voltage of each battery unit. A wall lead connected to the terminal; a lid terminal installed on the lid and connected to the wall lead; a lid lead embedded in the lid and connected to the lid terminal; and a lid lead And a concentrating connector connected to the voltage monitoring means.

  The heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention is a heat insulating container suitable for housing a fuel cell stack structure used as a power source for a moving body such as an automobile. For this reason, the heat insulating container is designed to take out the gas flow path, the monitor's electrical wiring, etc. on either side of the battery unit stacking direction. By embedding in the wall portion or the lid portion, the wirings are concentrated on the central connector of the lid portion without short-circuiting. As a result, even when the heat insulating container is applied to a high-temperature fuel cell, it is possible to easily and effectively monitor the voltage of each battery unit, and in addition, the number of wiring assembly steps can be greatly reduced. At the same time, the space in the heat insulating container can be saved.

  Further, the heat insulation container for fuel cell stack of the present invention, as a more preferred embodiment, has a bottomed cylindrical shape with a lid, and the wall portion forms a peripheral wall portion. In this peripheral wall portion, the wall portion lead is in the circumferential direction. Are arranged at intervals, with one end extending in the height direction and the other end extending inward in the radial direction so that the overall shape is L-shaped and connected to the voltage terminal of each battery unit. It is characterized by being.

  The heat insulating container having the above-described configuration can prevent wirings from being short-circuited and can efficiently arrange the wirings with high density, and can save space inside the container. In the above configuration, the arrangement of the voltage terminals is not limited to the adjacent pattern, but may be a pattern arranged from the center side to the outside as shown in FIG. 4B, for example.

  Further, in the heat insulation container for fuel cell stack of the present invention, as a more preferred embodiment, the voltage terminal is protruded in the direction of the peripheral wall portion, and the portion of the peripheral wall portion facing the protruded voltage terminal is recessed, A protruding voltage terminal is fitted in this recessed portion and connected to the wall lead, thereby making it possible to more reliably perform electrical connection between the electric wiring and each battery unit. it can.

  Furthermore, the fuel cell stack heat insulating container of the present invention is characterized in that the projecting voltage terminal has elasticity as a more preferred embodiment, thereby facilitating electrical connection between the electric wiring and the battery unit. Thus, it is possible to easily incorporate the battery unit or the fuel cell stack structure.

  Furthermore, the heat insulation container for fuel cell stacks of the present invention is characterized in that the exposed portion of the wall lead has an oxidation resistant coating as a more preferred embodiment.

  In the above configuration, the exposed portion of the wall lead is the end portion of the wall lead, and is exposed to an oxidizing atmosphere (oxidizing gas) when electrically connected to the battery unit in the container. It is necessary to apply surface treatment. The surface treatment method is not particularly limited in the present invention because it differs depending on the material used for the electrical wiring (wall lead). However, the oxidation resistance condition is an air atmosphere of 600 to 800 ° C. Thus, by performing oxidation resistance treatment on the exposed portion of the wall lead, it is possible to reduce the contact resistance with the convex portion of the battery unit and to obtain electrical long-term stability.

  Furthermore, in the heat insulating container for fuel cell stacks of the present invention, as a more preferred embodiment, the wall portion has a multiple tubular structure composed of a plurality of layers including a heat insulating material, and one end side portion of the wall portion lead is the plurality of layers. The other end side portion is connected to the voltage terminal through a layer located inside the wall portion lead.

  In the above configuration, the wall lead constituting the electrical wiring is embedded in a heat insulating material or an insulating material forming the wall portion of the multiple tubular structure, and one end thereof is connected to the voltage terminal of each battery unit, The other end is connected to the lid lead of the lid. Therefore, the wall lead is L-shaped as described above. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a short circuit between the electrical wirings (between the wall leads), to arrange them efficiently, and to save space inside the container.

  Furthermore, the manufacturing method of the heat insulation container for fuel cell stacks of the present invention provides the surface of the outer layer among the plurality of layers including the heat insulating material constituting the wall portion in producing the heat insulation container for fuel cell stacks. Then, one end side portion of the conductive material constituting the wall lead is disposed, and then an inner layer having a through hole is laminated on the outer layer, and the other end side portion of the conductive material is inserted into the through hole. Then, a molded body having a laminated structure is formed, and then the molded body is fired.

  More specifically, for example, pure Ag is used as a conductive material, this conductive material is provided on a substrate material (glass + alumina), connected by holes (vias), and a ceramic substrate is laminated. In this way, by simultaneously firing the conductive material and the substrate serving as the heat insulating material or the insulating material, a heat insulating container in which the wall portion lead that is the conductive material, that is, the electric wiring, is embedded can be manufactured. At this time, the heat insulating material, the heat-resistant material, and the insulating material are not particularly limited, but are general materials and are preferably usable at high temperatures (600 to 800 ° C.). And according to said manufacturing method, since the co-sintering process of ceramics is applied, it is possible to obtain a heat insulation container easily and is excellent in mass-productivity.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the heat insulation container of this invention is not limited to a following example.

  A fuel cell device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a heat insulating container 2 for a fuel cell stack, a fuel cell stack structure 3 housed in the heat insulating container 2, and voltages of the battery units 4 constituting the fuel cell stack structure 3. Voltage monitoring means 5 for monitoring is provided.

  The fuel cell stack heat insulating container 2 includes a container inner shell 6 having a bottomed cylindrical shape opened to the upper side in FIG. 1 and a container that covers and covers a box shape that is slightly larger than the container inner shell 6. An outer shell 7 is provided, and a vacuum gap layer 8 is formed between the container inner shell 6 and the container outer shell 7, and a plurality of heat insulating materials 9 made of, for example, porous ceramics are provided inside the container inner shell 6. A fuel cell stack structure 3 formed by stacking battery units 4 is accommodated.

  That is, the heat insulating container 2 has a cylindrical peripheral wall portion 2A, and the peripheral wall portion 2A includes a plurality of layers such as a container inner shell 6, a container outer shell 7, a vacuum gap layer 8, and a heat insulating material 9. It has a multi-tubular structure consisting of Moreover, the said heat insulation container 2 is provided with the cover part 2B which closes this in the open part of the upper side, and the heat insulating material 9 is provided also inside this cover part 2B similarly to the inner side of the container inner shell 6. FIG. .

  The fuel cell stack structure 3 is formed by laminating a plurality of disk-shaped battery units 4, and pipes that pass through openings 6 a and 7 a provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the container inner shell 6 and the container outer shell 7, respectively. (Tube) P is supported by P, and the fuel gas is supplied to and discharged from each battery unit 4 through this pipe P.

  In this case, each opening 6a, 7a of the container inner shell 6 and the container outer shell 7 is fitted with a ceramic heat insulating cylinder 10 having electrical insulation connected to the peripheral portion of the opening 9a provided in the heat insulating material 9. The pipe P is fixed to the heat insulating cylinder 10 via a bent spring plate ring 11 having heat resistance.

  The spring plate ring 11 is strong against the heat insulating cylinder 10 while reducing the contact area with the heat insulating cylinder 10 and reducing heat conduction to the container inner shell 6 and the container outer shell 7 at high temperatures. The pipe P is fixed. The heat insulating cylinder 10 can reduce heat conduction and also has electrical insulation.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the battery unit 4 houses a power generation element in which a solid oxide layer is sandwiched between a fuel electrode layer and an air electrode layer in a flat disk-shaped case, The fuel gas flow path for the fuel electrode layer is provided, and the air electrode layer is exposed outside the case. Therefore, the fuel electrode layer is supplied with fuel gas into the case through the pipe P as described above, and exhaust gas is discharged through the pipe P. On the other hand, for the air electrode layer, oxidizing gas (air) is supplied to the inside of the heat insulating container 2 by the supply pipe 12A provided in the lid portion 2B of the heat insulating container 2, and exhaust gas is discharged by the discharge pipe 12B. Will be performed.

  The fuel cell stack heat insulating container 2 containing the fuel cell stack structure 3 has a structure in which electric wiring is embedded in the peripheral wall portion 2A and the lid portion 2B. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, wall leads L1 embedded in the peripheral wall portion 2A and connected to the voltage terminals Tu of the respective battery units 4 as electrical wiring, and each wall portion installed in the lid portion 2B, as shown in FIG. A lid terminal Tc connected to each lead L1, a lid lead L2 embedded in the lid portion 2B and connected to each lid terminal Tc, and each lid lead L2 connected to the lid lead L2 A central connector C is provided which is integrated and connected to the voltage monitoring means 5.

  Here, each said wall part lead L1 is embed | buried under each heat insulating material 9 which comprises 2 A of surrounding wall parts of the said heat insulation container 2, and each lid | cover part lead L2 is embed | buried under the cover part 2B. In particular, the wall leads L1 are arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction, and as shown in FIG. 3, one end extends in the height direction and the other end extends in the radial direction so that the overall shape is L. The other end is connected to the voltage terminal Tu of each battery unit 4.

  The heat insulating material 9 has a structure composed of a plurality of layers, and a vertical portion of the wall portion lead L1 is buried between each layer. As a result, the wall leads L1 are reliably prevented from being short-circuited with each other, and are efficiently arranged with high density. In addition, since the horizontal part of each wall part lead | read | reed L2 is each connected to each laminated | stacked battery unit 4, it is mutually spaced apart in the height direction, and there is no fear of causing a short circuit.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, the heat insulating material 9 has a recessed portion 9b at the end portion of the horizontal portion of each wall portion lead L1, and the voltage of each battery unit 4 is compared with this. The terminal Tu has elasticity and is projected in the direction of the peripheral wall 2A including the heat insulating material 9. And each battery unit 4 and each wall part lead L1 are electrically connected by fitting the voltage terminal Tu in the recessed part 9b of the heat insulating material 9. FIG.

  Thereby, the assembly | attachment of the fuel cell stack structure 3 with respect to the said heat insulation container 2, the assembly | attachment of each battery unit 4, and the connection of each battery unit 4 and wall part lead L1 can be performed easily.

  Furthermore, each wall lead L1 has a portion exposed between the heat insulating material 9 and the battery unit 4 in the heat insulating container 2, and as described above, the oxidizing gas is supplied into the heat insulating container 2. Therefore, the exposed portion is exposed to the oxidizing atmosphere. Therefore, each wall lead L1 has an oxidation-resistant film formed on the exposed portion, thereby reducing the contact resistance with the voltage terminal Tu of the battery unit 4 and obtaining electrical long-term stability. it can.

  The lid terminal Tc corresponds to the upper end of each wall lead L1, and at this time, each wall lead L1 is arranged at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction of the peripheral wall 2A. It is arranged at a predetermined interval on the top.

  The lid lead L2 connected to each of the lid terminals Tc is embedded between the layers of the lid 2B composed of a plurality of layers. That is, the wall lead L2 is arranged for each layer shown in FIGS. 5A to 5I, and all are connected to the central connector C as shown in FIG. 5J.

  The fuel cell stack heat insulation container 2 having the above-described configuration is made of, for example, a conductive material constituting the wall lead L1 on the surface of the outer layer among the plurality of layers including the heat insulation material 9 constituting the peripheral wall portion 2A. One end side portion is arranged, and then an inner layer having a through hole (recessed portion 9b) is laminated on the outer layer, and the other end side portion of the conductive material is inserted into the through hole to obtain a laminated structure. It can form by forming the molded object which has, and baking a molded object after that.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to the present invention. Note that the same components as those in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The illustrated heat insulating container 22 accommodates one fuel cell stack structure 3 in the previous embodiment, but accommodates four fuel cell stack structures 3 and constitutes the peripheral wall portion 2A. A wall lead L1 is embedded in the heat insulating material 9 of a plurality of layers, and each wall lead L1 is connected to the battery unit 4 constituting each fuel cell stack structure 3.

  Note that the number of fuel cell stack structures that can be accommodated in the heat insulating container of the present invention is not limited, but for the convenience of connecting each cell unit with a wall lead embedded in the peripheral wall, It is desirable that at least a part of the battery stack structure is disposed close to the peripheral wall portion.

  In addition, the details of the configuration of the heat insulating container of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiments, and the shape, number, material, and the like of each component can be changed as appropriate.

It is sectional drawing of the fuel cell apparatus explaining one Example of the heat insulation container for fuel cell stacks of this invention. It is a perspective explanatory view which shows the electrical wiring in the heat insulation container shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing explaining arrangement | positioning of a wall part lead. It is perspective view (a) which shows the connection of a battery unit and a wall part lead, and the perspective view (b) which shows the modification of a connection. It is plane explanatory drawing (a)-(j) which shows arrangement | positioning of a cover part lead, respectively. It is an appreciation explanatory drawing of the fuel cell apparatus which shows the other Example of the heat insulation container for fuel cell stacks of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fuel cell device.
2 22 Insulated container 2A Perimeter wall (wall)
2B Lid 3 Fuel cell stack structure 4 Battery unit 5 Voltage monitor 9 Thermal insulation (wall, lid)
9b Concave portion C Concentrated connector L1 Wall lead,
L2 Lid lead Tc Lid terminal Tu Voltage terminal

Claims (8)

A heat insulating container with a lid for accommodating a fuel cell stack structure formed by laminating a plurality of battery units,
A wall lead embedded in the wall and connected to the voltage terminal of each battery unit;
A lid terminal installed on the lid and connected to the wall lead;
A lid lead embedded in the lid and connected to the lid terminal;
A heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack, comprising: a concentrating connector that is connected to the lid lead and collects the lid lead and is connected to voltage monitoring means. The wall part forms a peripheral wall part with a bottomed cylindrical shape with a lid,
In this peripheral wall portion, the wall leads are arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction, one end of which extends in the height direction, and the other end extends inward in the radial direction so that the overall shape is L-shaped. The insulated container for a fuel cell stack according to claim 1, wherein none is connected to a voltage terminal of each of the battery units.   The voltage terminal is protruded in the direction of the peripheral wall portion, and a portion of the peripheral wall portion facing the convex voltage terminal is recessed, and the convex voltage terminal is fitted into the recessed portion. The insulated container for a fuel cell stack according to claim 2, wherein the insulated container is connected to the wall lead.   The insulated container for a fuel cell stack according to claim 3, wherein the protruding voltage terminal has elasticity.   The insulated container for a fuel cell stack according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the exposed portion of the wall lead has an oxidation-resistant coating.   The wall portion has a multiple tubular structure composed of a plurality of layers including a heat insulating material, and one end side portion of the wall lead is disposed between the layers, and the other end portion is the wall. 6. The heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating container is connected to the voltage terminal through a layer located inside the part lead. In manufacturing the insulated container for a fuel cell stack according to claim 6,
Disposing one end side portion of the conductive material constituting the wall lead on the surface of the outer layer of the plurality of layers including the heat insulating material constituting the wall,
Next, an inner layer having a through hole is laminated on the outer layer, and the other end portion of the conductive material is inserted into the through hole to form a molded body having a laminated structure.
Thereafter, the molded body is fired, and a method for manufacturing a heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack is provided.   A fuel cell comprising: the heat insulating container for a fuel cell stack according to any one of claims 1 to 6, a fuel cell stack structure housed in the heat insulating container, and voltage monitoring means. apparatus.

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