JP2011222356A - Fuel cell system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fuel cell system capable of both improving a cutting-off property and achieving a long life of a valve seat part while power generation of the fuel cell is stopped.SOLUTION: A fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell, and air supply pipe and an air exhaust pipe, which are connected to the fuel cell and through which air flows. An outlet flow rate control valve and an inlet flow rate control valve for controlling a flow rate of the air are provided to the pipes. The outlet flow rate control valve 40 comprises a tubular housing 41, a fixed valve seat portion 42 provided along the inner wall of the housing 41, and a valve body 43 provided on the end face side of the fixed valve seat portion 42. The valve body 43 is seated on a seal face 421 of the fixed valve seat portion 42 on a valve seal face 433 on the fuel cell side. A spring 45 for pressing the valve seal face 433 of the valve body 43 toward the fixed valve seat portion 42 is provided inside the housing 41.

Description

  The present invention relates to a fuel cell system. Specifically, the present invention relates to a fuel cell system in which a flow rate control valve is provided in a pipe through which cathode gas flows.

  Conventionally, a fuel cell system is known as a new power source for automobiles. The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell that generates electric power by reaction of a reaction gas, and a reaction gas channel that supplies the reaction gas to the fuel cell.

  The fuel cell has, for example, a stack structure in which several tens to several hundreds of cells are stacked. Here, each cell is configured by sandwiching a membrane electrode structure (MEA) between a pair of separators. The membrane electrode structure includes two electrodes, an anode electrode (cathode) and a cathode electrode (anode), and these electrodes. And a solid polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched between the two.

  When hydrogen gas as anode gas is supplied to the anode electrode of this fuel cell and air containing oxygen as cathode gas is supplied to the cathode electrode, power is generated by an electrochemical reaction. Since only harmless water is generated at the time of power generation, fuel cells are attracting attention from the viewpoint of environmental impact and utilization efficiency.

  By the way, a large flow rate cathode gas compressed by an air pump or the like is supplied to the cathode electrode of the fuel cell. For this reason, in the fuel cell system, a valve suitable for controlling a large flow rate such as a butterfly valve or a ball valve is provided in a pipe through which the cathode gas flows.

  By the way, if the reaction gas flows into the fuel cell after power generation by the fuel cell is stopped, the potential increases due to the chemical reaction of the reaction gas and the solid polymer electrolyte membrane deteriorates. Therefore, the cathode gas pipe connected to the cathode electrode The provided valve is required to have high cut-off performance when the valve is closed. Therefore, conventionally, a technique for closing the valve using a spring has been proposed.

  For example, in the butterfly valve disclosed in Patent Document 1, an annular valve seat portion is pressed by a spring against a disc-shaped valve body pivotally supported inside a housing. As a result, when the valve is closed, the valve seat portion can be brought into close contact with the valve seal surface on the periphery of the valve body, so that the cut-off performance can be improved.

JP 2009-2559577 A

As described above, in the valve using the spring, in order to further improve the shut-off performance when the power generation of the fuel cell is stopped, it is preferable that the urging force of the spring is large so that the valve body and the valve seat portion are in close contact with each other.
However, when the urging force of the spring is increased, the frictional force acting between the valve body and the valve seat portion also increases, so that the wear of the valve seat portion accompanying the opening and closing of the valve body becomes severe. Therefore, in order to prolong the life of the valve body and the valve seat part, it is preferable that the biasing force of the spring is small, contrary to the case where the shut-off property is improved.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a fuel cell system that achieves both an improvement in the shut-off property during power generation stop of the fuel cell and a longer life of the valve body and the valve seat part. With the goal.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a fuel cell (for example, a fuel cell 10 to be described later) that generates power by reaction of a reaction gas, and a cathode channel (for example, to be described later) connected to the fuel cell and through which cathode gas flows. An air supply pipe 21 and an air discharge pipe 22), and a flow rate control valve (for example, an outlet flow rate control valve 40 and an inlet flow rate control valve 50, which will be described later) is provided in the cathode flow path to control the flow rate of the cathode gas. Provided is a fuel cell system (for example, a fuel cell system 1 described later). The flow control valve includes a cylindrical housing (for example, a housing 41 described later), a valve seat portion (for example, a fixed valve seat portion 42 described later) provided along the inner wall surface of the housing, and the valve seat. A valve body (for example, a later-described valve body 43) provided on one end surface side of the portion, and the valve body is a valve seal surface (for example, a later-described valve seal surface 433) on the fuel cell side. An elastic body (for example, a spring 45 to be described later) that is seated on the valve seat portion and urges the valve seal surface of the valve body toward the valve seat portion is provided inside the housing. .

  According to the present invention, the valve body is seated on the valve seat portion at the valve seal surface on the fuel cell side, and the elastic body that urges the valve seal surface of the valve body toward the valve seat portion is provided. For example, if the flow control valve is fully closed after power generation of the fuel cell is stopped to prevent deterioration of the fuel cell during power generation stoppage, the temperature of the fuel cell decreases and oxygen in the contained cathode gas is chemically A negative pressure is generated by being consumed by the reaction, and a negative pressure load acts on the valve body to the fuel cell side. That is, according to the present invention, the direction of the negative pressure load acting on the valve body during power generation stop of the fuel cell and the direction of the pressing load of the elastic body acting on the valve body by the urging force of the elastic body are made the same. Therefore, it is possible to improve the cut-off property of the flow path when power generation is stopped. In addition, since the biasing force of the elastic body can be reduced without lowering the cut-off performance by using the negative pressure load acting during the power generation stop in this way, the valve accompanying the opening and closing of the valve body can be reduced. The wear of the seat portion can be suppressed, and as a result, the life of the valve body and the valve seat portion can be extended. Further, by using an elastic body having a small urging force, the flow control valve can be made smaller and lighter accordingly.

  In this case, the flow rate control valve is provided in a flow path (for example, an air discharge pipe 22 described later) through which the cathode gas discharged from the fuel cell circulates in the cathode flow path, and the elastic body includes the valve Urging the valve seal surface of the valve body toward the valve seat portion via a movable valve seat portion (for example, a movable valve seat portion 44 described later) provided on the opposite side of the fuel cell to the body, The valve body is supported between the movable valve seat portion and the valve seat portion by an urging force of the elastic body, and the movable valve seat portion is disposed on the opposite side of the fuel cell to the inside of the housing. It is preferable that a restricting means (for example, a movable sheet stopper 416 described later) for restricting the amount of displacement to a predetermined amount or less is provided.

  According to the present invention, the flow rate control valve provided in the flow path in which the cathode gas discharged from the fuel cell in the cathode flow path circulates by the biasing force of the elastic body provided on the opposite side of the fuel cell. The body was supported between the movable valve seat part and the valve seat part. During the power generation of the fuel cell, a differential pressure load in the direction opposite to the pressing load by the elastic body acts on the valve body of such a flow control valve. For this reason, when the differential pressure load exceeds the pressing load by the elastic body, the movable valve seat portion is displaced to the opposite side of the fuel cell, and the valve body may fall off between the movable valve seat portion and the valve seat portion. There is. In addition, the flow rate controllability may be impaired due to the large separation between the valve body and the valve seat portion. According to the present invention, since the restricting means for restricting the amount of displacement of the movable valve seat portion to the opposite side of the fuel cell is provided to a predetermined amount or less, the negative pressure load exceeding the pressing load by the elastic body acts on the valve body. Even if it is a case, without increasing the urging force of the elastic body, the valve body may drop from between the movable valve seat part and the valve seat part, or the valve body and the valve seat part may be separated greatly. It is possible to prevent the controllability from being impaired.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fuel cell system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the longitudinal section of the outlet flow control valve at the time of full opening. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve when fully closed. It is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve at an intermediate opening degree. It is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve at the time of full opening, intermediate opening, and full closing. It is a figure which shows typically the state of an inlet flow control valve and an outlet flow control valve in the time of the electric power generation stop of a fuel cell. It is a figure which shows typically the state of the inlet flow control valve and the outlet flow control valve during power generation of the fuel cell. It is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve according to a modification of the embodiment.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fuel cell system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The fuel cell system 1 is mounted on an automobile and generates a power by reacting a reaction gas, a supply device 20 for supplying and discharging hydrogen gas and air (air) to the fuel cell 10, and these fuel cells 10 and a control device 30 for controlling the supply device 20.
The fuel cell 10 generates electricity by an electrochemical reaction when hydrogen gas as an anode gas is supplied to the anode electrode (cathode) side and air containing oxygen as the cathode gas is supplied to the cathode electrode (anode) side.

The supply device 20 is connected to an air pump 24 that generates compressed air, an air supply pipe 21 that is connected to the fuel cell 10 and supplies air compressed by the air pump 24 to the cathode electrode side, and the fuel cell 10. And an air discharge pipe 22 as a cathode gas flow path for discharging air from the cathode electrode side. In addition, the supply device 20 includes a hydrogen supply pipe (not shown) that supplies hydrogen gas to the anode electrode side of the fuel cell 10 and a hydrogen discharge pipe (not shown) that discharges hydrogen gas from the anode electrode side of the fuel cell 10. .
The air supply pipe 21 and the air discharge pipe 22 are provided with a humidifier 23. The humidifier 23 collects moisture contained in the air flowing through the air discharge pipe 22 and adds the collected moisture to the air flowing through the air supply pipe 21.

  An inlet flow control valve 50 and an outlet flow control valve 40 for controlling the air flow rate are provided between the fuel cell 10 and the humidifier 23 in the air supply pipe 21 and the air discharge pipe 22, respectively. These flow control valves 40 and 50 are connected to the control device 30 via actuators (not shown), and their opening degrees are controlled according to a control signal transmitted from the control device 30.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a longitudinal section of the outlet flow rate control valve 40.
The outlet flow rate control valve 40 includes a cylindrical housing 41, an annular fixed valve seat portion 42 provided along the inner wall surface of the housing 41, and a spherical shape provided on one end surface side of the fixed valve seat portion 42. A valve body 43, a spring 45 as an elastic body that urges the valve body 43 toward the fixed valve seat portion 42 via an annular movable valve seat portion 44, a shaft 46 that rotates the valve body 43, Is provided.

The outlet flow rate control valve 40 is a so-called ball valve that controls the flow rate of air flowing in the housing 41 by rotating a valve body 43 that is rotatably incorporated in the housing 41 with a shaft shaft 46. . The perspective view of FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the outlet flow rate control valve 40 when fully opened.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve 40 when fully closed.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view perpendicular to the extending direction of the shaft 46 of the outlet flow control valve 40 at an intermediate opening between the fully open and fully closed positions.

  The housing 41 includes a cylindrical housing body 411 and a first joint 412 and a second joint 413 provided on both ends of the housing body 411. The first joint 412 is connected to the fuel cell side of the air discharge pipe, and the second joint 413 is connected to the opposite side of the fuel cell, that is, the exhaust side of the air discharge pipe. Accordingly, while the compressed air is supplied to the fuel cell by the air pump and power is generated, air flows from the first joint 412 side to the second joint 413 side at the outlet flow rate control valve 40. Hereinafter, in the outlet flow rate control valve 40, the first joint 412 side is referred to as the fuel cell side and the second joint 413 side is referred to as the exhaust side along the extending direction of the housing 41.

  A stepped portion 414 is formed along the circumferential direction on the inner wall surface of the housing main body 411, and the fixed valve seat portion 42 is fitted into the stepped portion 414 inside the housing main body 411. A partial spherical seal surface 421 is formed on the exhaust side of the inner wall surface of the fixed valve seat portion 42.

The valve body 43 is provided on the exhaust side of the fixed valve seat portion 42 in the housing 41. The outer peripheral surface of the valve body 43 is formed in a spherical shape and serves as a valve seal surface 433. The valve body 43 is seated on the seal surface 421 of the fixed valve seat portion 42 on the surface of the valve seal surface 433 on the fuel cell side. The valve body 43 is formed with a through channel 431 that penetrates the center. The through channel 431 extends linearly from one side surface of the valve body 43 to the opposite side surface. In addition, a key groove 432 extending along a direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the through passage 431 is formed in the upper portion of the valve body 43.
The shaft 46 is inserted through a through hole 415 formed in the housing body 411. A key portion 461 that engages with the key groove 432 of the valve body 43 is formed at the tip of the shaft 46.

The movable valve seat portion 44 is provided on the exhaust side with respect to the valve body 43 in the housing 41. A partial spherical seal surface 441 is formed on the fuel cell side of the inner wall surface of the movable valve seat portion 44 so that the valve seal surface 433 of the valve body 43 is seated.
The spring 45 is provided on the exhaust side of the inside of the housing 41 with respect to the movable valve seat portion 44, and the valve seal surface 433 of the valve body 43 is sealed with the fixed valve seat portion 42 via the movable valve seat portion 44. It is biased toward the surface 421. As a result, the valve body 43 is rotatably supported between the movable valve seat portion 44 and the fixed valve seat portion 42 by the urging force of the spring 45.

  Thus, since the valve body 43 is held in the housing 41 while being sandwiched between the two valve seat portions 42 and 44, for example, the valve body 43 is seated on the fixed valve seat portion 42 from the exhaust side. If the valve body 43 is displaced, the valve body 43 may drop from between the valve seat portions 42, 44, or the valve body 43 and the fixed valve seat portion 42 may be greatly separated to reduce the flow rate controllability. Therefore, the amount of displacement of the movable valve seat 44 toward the exhaust side of the inner wall surface of the housing main body 411 is more than the movable valve seat portion 44, more preferably an amount that the valve body 43 does not fall off. An annular movable sheet stopper 416 is inserted as a restricting means for restricting the flow rate to an amount that does not impair the flow controllability.

The operation of the outlet flow control valve 40 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow control valve when fully opened, FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow control valve when the opening is intermediate, and FIG. 5C is fully closed. It is a cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve at the time.
When the shaft 43 is driven and the valve body 43 is rotated until the extending direction of the through flow path 431 and the extending direction of the housing 41 are parallel, the opening of the through flow path 431 and the opening of the fixed valve seat portion 42 are Match. As a result, the outlet flow rate control valve 40 is fully opened (see FIG. 5A).
When the shaft is driven and the valve body 43 is rotated clockwise from the fully opened state in FIG. 5, a part of the opening of the fixed valve seat portion 42 is blocked by the valve seal surface 433 of the valve body 43. (See FIG. 5B).
When the shaft is further driven and the valve body 43 is rotated until the extending direction of the through passage 431 and the extending direction of the housing 41 are perpendicular to each other, the opening of the fixed valve seat portion 42 opens the valve of the valve body 43. The seal surface 433 is completely closed. As a result, the outlet flow rate control valve 40 is fully closed (see FIG. 5C).
As described above, the valve body 43 supported between the fixed valve seat portion 42 and the movable valve seat portion 44 is rotated, and the angle formed by the extending direction of the through flow path 431 and the extending direction of the housing 41. By changing the angle between 0 and 90 degrees, the flow rate of the air flowing through the housing 41 can be continuously changed.

  The structure of the outlet flow control valve 40 has been described above with reference to FIGS. On the other hand, the inlet flow control valve 50 is different from the outlet flow control valve 40 only in that the movable sheet stopper 416 described above is not provided, and the other configurations are the same. Therefore, detailed description of the structure of the inlet flow control valve 50 is omitted. The first joint of the inlet flow control valve 50 is connected to the fuel cell side of the air supply pipe, and the second joint is connected to the opposite side of the fuel cell, that is, the air pump side of the air supply pipe. Accordingly, while the compressed air is supplied to the fuel cell by the air pump and power is generated, the inlet flow control valve 50 flows air from the second joint toward the first joint. In the following, with respect to the inlet flow control valve 50, the first joint side is referred to as the fuel cell side and the second joint side is referred to as the air pump side along the extending direction of the housing.

Next, the load acting on the valve body of each flow control valve when the power generation of the fuel cell is stopped and during the power generation of the fuel cell will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the flow control valves 40 and 50 when the fuel cell power generation is stopped. As shown in FIG. 6, the control device fully closes both the flow control valves 40 and 50 in order to prevent the fuel cell 10 from deteriorating while the power generation of the fuel cell 10 is stopped.

First, focus on the inlet flow control valve 50. If the flow control valves 40 and 50 are fully closed after the power generation of the fuel cell 10 is stopped, it is generated in the fuel cell due to a decrease in temperature and consumption of oxygen in the contained air due to a chemical reaction. Due to the negative pressure, a positive negative pressure load Fvi acts on the valve body 53 toward the fuel cell side. Further, since the valve element 53 is biased toward the fixed valve seat 52 on the fuel cell side by the spring 55, the positive spring load Fsi acts on the valve element 53 in the same direction as the negative pressure load Fvi. Therefore, the seat load Fti acting on the fixed valve seat portion 52 is a combination of the spring load Fsi and the negative pressure load Fvi as shown in the following formula (1).
Fti = Fsi + Fvi (1)

Next, focus on the outlet flow control valve 40. Similarly to the inlet flow control valve 50, during the power generation stop of the fuel cell, a positive negative pressure load Fvo acts on the valve body 43 toward the fuel cell side. Further, since the valve body 43 is urged toward the fixed valve seat 42 on the fuel cell side by the spring 45, the positive spring load Fso acts on the valve body 43 in the same direction as the negative pressure load Fvo. Therefore, the seat load Fto acting on the fixed valve seat portion 42 is a combination of the spring load Fso and the negative pressure load Fvo as shown in the following formula (2).
Fto = Fso + Fvo (2)

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, both the flow control valves 40 and 50 generate a negative pressure load in the same direction as the spring load by the springs 45 and 55 when the fuel cell 10 stops generating power. Therefore, since both the flow control valves 40 and 50 can be closed using the negative pressure load, the urging force of the springs 45 and 55 can be reduced accordingly.

Here, for example, when the minimum required seat load (hereinafter referred to as “required seat load”) is Ft1 in order to compensate for the cut-off performance of the pipes 21 and 22 when the fuel cell power generation is stopped, the power generation is stopped. The magnitude of the spring load necessary to continuously apply the seat loads Fto and Fti that are always larger than the necessary seat load Ft1 will be examined.
The negative pressure loads Fvo and Fvi are zero and the smallest immediately after the power generation is stopped after the power generation is stopped until the power generation is started again. Then, as the temperature of the fuel cell decreases, the enclosed air It grows as the oxygen in it is consumed. Therefore, according to the above formulas (1) and (2), the seat loads Fto and Fti are the smallest immediately after the power generation is stopped during the power generation stop, and the seat loads at that time are equal to the respective spring loads Fso and Fsi. . Therefore, in order to keep applying a larger load than the required seat load Ft1 while power generation is stopped, it is sufficient to use springs 45 and 55 that generate a spring load greater than or equal to the required seat load Ft1.

  In the case where the direction of the negative pressure load and the direction of the spring load by the spring are opposite to the flow control valves 40 and 50 of the present embodiment as described above, the biasing force of the spring resists the negative pressure load. Since it is necessary to ensure the necessary seat load, a spring that generates a spring load obtained by adding the maximum value of the negative pressure load to the necessary seat load Ft1 must be used.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the state of the flow control valves 40 and 50 during the power generation of the fuel cell. As shown in FIG. 6, during the power generation of the fuel cell, the control device fully opens the inlet flow rate control valve 50 and sets the outlet flow rate control valve 40 to an intermediate opening, and drives the air pump to supply compressed air to the fuel cell 10. Supply. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6, in the inlet flow control valve 50, air flows from the air pump side to the fuel cell side, and in the outlet flow control valve 40, air flows from the fuel cell side to the exhaust side.

  First, focus on the inlet flow control valve 50. The inlet flow control valve 50 is fully opened during power generation of the fuel cell as described above. For this reason, no differential pressure is generated between the air pump side and the fuel cell side of the valve body 53, and therefore no differential pressure load acts on the valve body 53. On the other hand, the spring load by the spring 55 acts on the valve body 53. For this reason, in the inlet flow control valve 50 during power generation, the valve element 53 is supported between the movable valve seat portion 54 and the fixed valve seat portion 52 by the urging force of the spring 55. Therefore, there is no possibility that the valve body 53 falls off between the valve seat portions 52 and 54 during power generation.

  Next, focus on the outlet flow control valve 40. A spring load from the spring 45 acts on the fuel cell side of the valve body 43 of the outlet flow control valve 40. Further, the outlet flow rate control valve 40 is set to an intermediate opening degree during power generation of the fuel cell as described above. Therefore, unlike the inlet flow control valve 50 described above, a differential pressure is generated between the fuel cell side and the exhaust side of the valve body 53, and a positive differential pressure load is opposite to the spring load on the valve body 43. It works toward the exhaust side. For this reason, when this differential pressure load becomes larger than the spring load, the movable valve seat portion 44 may be displaced to the exhaust side, and the valve body 43 may be separated from the fixed valve seat portion 42. On the other hand, as described above, the outlet flow rate control valve 40 is provided with the movable seat stopper 416 that regulates the displacement amount of the movable valve seat portion 44 to the exhaust side so that the valve body 43 does not fall off. Therefore, the valve body 43 does not drop out between the valve seat portions 42, 44, or the valve body 43 and the fixed valve seat portion 42 are largely separated and the flow rate controllability is not deteriorated.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) According to the present embodiment, the direction of the negative pressure load acting on the valve bodies 43 and 53 and the direction of the spring load can be made the same while the power generation of the fuel cell 10 is stopped. The cut-off performance of the pipes 21 and 22 can be improved. In addition, by using the negative pressure load that acts during power generation stop in this way, the biasing force of the springs 45 and 55 can be reduced without reducing the shut-off performance, so that the valve body can be opened and closed. Accordingly, wear of the fixed valve seat portions 42 and 52 is suppressed, and as a result, the life of the valve bodies 43 and 53 and the fixed valve seat portions 42 and 52 can be extended. Further, by using the springs 45 and 55 having a small urging force, the flow control valves 40 and 50 can be made smaller and lighter accordingly.

  (2) According to the present embodiment, since the movable seat stopper 416 that restricts the amount of displacement of the movable valve seat portion 44 to the exhaust side to an amount that does not cause the valve body 43 to drop off is provided, the spring by the spring 45 is provided. Even when a negative pressure load exceeding the load is applied to the valve body 43, the valve body 43 falls off between the valve seat portions 42, 44 without increasing the biasing force of the spring 45, or the valve body 43 It is possible to prevent the fixed valve seat portion 42 from being largely separated and the flow rate controllability from being deteriorated.

<Modification>
Hereinafter, modifications of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 8 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the outlet flow rate control valve 40A at the intermediate opening degree perpendicular to the extending direction of the shaft axis.
As shown in FIG. 8, the outlet flow control valve 40A according to the modified example further includes a second movable sheet stopper 417A in addition to the first movable sheet stopper 416A having the same configuration as the movable sheet stopper 416 of the above embodiment. Different from the above embodiment.

  As described above, the shaft shaft is coupled by engaging the key portion 461 formed at the tip of the shaft shaft with the key groove 432 formed in the upper portion of the valve body 43. In addition, since the key groove 432 is formed perpendicular to the through flow path 431, the displacement along the extending direction of the through flow path 431 of the valve body 43 is regulated by the shaft axis. The displacement in the direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the path 431 is not restricted by the shaft axis.

  Therefore, if the outlet flow control valve 40A is set to an intermediate opening as shown in FIG. 8 during power generation of the fuel cell, the valve body 43 and the movable valve seat portion 44 may be displaced along the radial direction of the valve body 43. (See the white arrow in FIG. 8). Therefore, the amount of displacement along the radial direction of the movable valve seat portion 44 along the outer peripheral surface of the movable valve seat portion 44 on the fuel cell side of the inner wall surface of the housing body 411 relative to the first movable seat stopper 416A. An annular second movable sheet stopper 417A that restricts the amount to a predetermined amount is inserted.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but includes modifications and improvements as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved.
For example, in the above embodiment, the outlet flow rate control valve 40 and the inlet flow rate control valve 50 are provided between the humidifier 23 and the fuel cell 10 in the air supply pipe 21 and the air discharge pipe 22, but are not limited thereto. . For example, these flow control valves 40 and 50 may be provided in a portion of the air supply pipe and the air discharge pipe opposite to the fuel cell with the humidifier interposed therebetween.

In the above embodiment, the cylindrical movable valve seat portion 44 is abutted against the entire circumference of the movable valve seat portion 44 by the annular movable seat stopper 416, but the displacement thereof is not limited thereto. The movable seat stopper only needs to be able to regulate the displacement of the movable valve seat portion 44 toward the exhaust side, and for example, a pin or a plate may be used.
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the movable sheet stopper 416 was provided only in the exit flow control valve 40 among the two flow control valves 40 and 50, it is not restricted to this. A movable seat stopper may also be provided on the inlet flow control valve.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Fuel cell system 10 ... Fuel cell 21 ... Air supply piping (cathode flow path)
22 ... Air discharge pipe (cathode flow path)
40 ... Outlet flow control valve (flow control valve)
41 ... Housing 416 ... Movable sheet stopper (regulating member)
416A: First movable sheet stopper (regulating member)
42 ... Fixed valve seat (valve seat)
43 ... Valve body 433 ... Valve seal surface 44 ... Movable valve seat part 50 ... Inlet flow control valve (flow control valve)

Claims (2)

A fuel cell that generates electric power by reaction of the reaction gas; and a cathode channel that is connected to the fuel cell and through which the cathode gas flows. The cathode channel is provided with a flow rate control valve that controls the flow rate of the cathode gas. A fuel cell system,
The flow control valve includes a cylindrical housing, a valve seat portion provided along the inner wall surface of the housing, and a valve body provided on one end surface side of the valve seat portion,
The valve body is seated on the valve seat portion at a valve seal surface on the fuel cell side,
The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein an elastic body that urges the valve seal surface of the valve body toward the valve seat portion is provided inside the housing. The flow rate control valve is provided in a flow path in which the cathode gas discharged from the fuel cell flows in the cathode flow path,
The elastic body biases the valve seal surface of the valve body toward the valve seat portion via a movable valve seat portion provided on the opposite side of the fuel cell with respect to the valve body,
The valve body is supported between the movable valve seat portion and the valve seat portion by the urging force of the elastic body,
2. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein a regulating means is provided inside the housing for regulating a displacement amount of the movable valve seat portion to the opposite side of the fuel cell to a predetermined amount or less. system.

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