JPH09134734A - Assembling method for fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To establish a fuel cell assembling method which can stack up component parts in the for of flat plate constituting a fuel cell without misalignment, can assemble a stack which is accurate and is sealed perfectly, and can perform the assembly precisely and easily while the facing/heading of each component is distinguished easily to allow precise location and holding. SOLUTION: A locating hole 2 for cell assembling is bored in a pressurizing plate for pressurization of a stack 16, and a long knock pin 13 of PTFE whose end face is chamfered, is inserted in this hole 2 and raised upright, and component parts in flat plate constituting a fuel cell are stacked one over another while their locating holes 2 are fitted on the knock pin 13, and thus an intended cell 15 is accomplished. This operating cycle is repeated to correspond the necessary number of cells 15 so that a stack 16 is constructed, and then fastening is made using a pressurizing plate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for assembling a fuel cell, and more particularly to a method for assembling a fuel cell which allows the flat plate-like parts constituting the fuel cell to be correctly positioned and stacked to be easily assembled.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in assembling a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a gas plate, a carbon plate such as a cooling plate, a Nafion membrane, a catalyst electrode, etc. are sealed through a seal plate to form a cell. A few layers to a few
After stacking 10 layers to assemble the stack, it was clamped and fixed using a pressure plate.

By the way, the larger the number of stacked cells, the more difficult it is to stack them, and in some cases, the stacked parts are misaligned and the sealing is incomplete.

In addition, when stacking a large number of flat plate-shaped parts, since there is no mark on the front and back or normal direction and angle of each part, the parts may be erroneously stacked on the front and back, or installed. After stacking the wrong direction by 90 ° or 180 ° and not observing the error and stacking all the remaining parts, after assembly of the fuel cell, inconvenience occurred in the test of flowing gas or cooling water, Occasionally, it turned out that there was an error in the stacking of either part.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, according to the present invention, cells are formed by stacking flat plate-shaped parts constituting a fuel cell without displacement, and the cells are also stacked without displacement to form a stack. It is intended to provide a method of constructing and assembling a fuel cell with high precision and complete sealing.

In addition, in stacking flat plate-shaped components constituting a fuel cell, it is possible to eliminate mistakes in the front and back of each component and the installation direction, and to confirm by external inspection after assembly is completed. It is intended to provide a method of assembling a fuel cell.

[0007]

One of the methods for assembling a fuel cell according to the present invention to solve the above problems is to provide a cell assembly positioning hole in a pressure plate for stack pressurization in assembling a fuel cell. Long P that is drilled and chamfered on the end face.
A TFE knock pin is inserted to stand upright, and then flat plate-like parts constituting a fuel cell having cell positioning holes are formed by sequentially stacking the cell positioning holes into the knock pins and stacking them to form a cell. Then, this is repeated by the required number of cells to form a stack by stacking, and then the plate is clamped and fixed using a pressure plate.

Another one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention is to make a flat shape of a flat plate component constituting the fuel cell into a rectangular shape, and chamfer one of the four corners as a mark,
The feature is that the front and the back and the direction of the component are identified by the mark, and the components are positioned and then laminated.

Still another one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention is to form a positioning hole for cell assembly in a pressure plate for stack pressurization, and insert a long knock pin made of PTFE with a chamfered end face into this hole. And then upright, then the planar shape of the flat plate-shaped components that make up the fuel cell is rectangular, and a cell positioning hole is drilled in the flat-plate-shaped component and one of the four corners is chamfered to form a mark, Then, the mark is used to identify the front and back of the component and the direction of the component for positioning, and then the components are sequentially fitted into the knock pins of the respective cell positioning holes, laminated to form a cell, and then the required number of cells is repeated. It is characterized in that a stack is formed by stacking layers, and then the plate is clamped and fixed using a pressure plate.

[0010]

As described above, one of the methods for assembling the fuel cell of the present invention is as follows.
One is a fuel cell in which a cell assembly positioning hole is formed in the stack pressurizing plate, a long PTFE knock pin with a chamfered end face is inserted into the stacking plate to stand upright, and a cell positioning hole is formed in this. Since the plate-like components to be formed are sequentially laminated by fitting the respective cell positioning holes to the knock pins, the knock pins made of PTFE are well slippery, and the plate-like components are easy to fit in the lamination. The knock pin is supple and has elasticity, and can absorb even a slight displacement of the flat plate-shaped component. Therefore, the cell and the stack can be assembled accurately and easily.

Further, since the knock pin has an insulating property,
Since each cell does not short-circuit and has heat resistance, the knock pin does not melt due to the heat generated by power generation, and since it has excellent material strength, it can hold the cell and stack securely and uses a pressure plate. And tighten it,
The moderately flexible stack is fixed and each cell is completely sealed.

As described above, another one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention is that the planar shape of the flat plate-shaped component is rectangular,
Since one of the four corners is chamfered as a mark, there is only one front and back of the flat plate-shaped component, and even if the direction is changed, the chamfered position matches the front and back. Therefore, the front and back of the flat plate-shaped part, the direction can be easily identified and accurately positioned,
Can be stacked.

As described above, still another one of the assembling methods of the fuel cell of the present invention is a combination of the above two assembling methods. The cell and stack can be easily assembled with high precision and the seal can be completely completed.

[0014]

EXAMPLE One example of the method for assembling a fuel cell according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawing. As shown in FIG.
A cell assembly positioning hole 2 having an inner diameter of 5.3 mm was drilled at the corner of a rectangular carbon plate (gas plate and cooling plate) 1 mm, 120 mm on a side. 4 is a gas inlet manifold, 5 is a gas passage groove, 6 is a gas outlet manifold,
Reference numeral 7 is a gas passage groove on the back surface, 8 is a gas inlet manifold thereof, and 9 is a gas outlet manifold. When the carbon plate 1 is a cooling plate, a cooling water passage groove, a cooling water inlet manifold, and a cooling water outlet manifold are provided on the front surface. It is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a seal plate 10 having a thickness of 0.4 mm arranged between the carbon plates 1 to seal the periphery of each manifold.
A cell assembly positioning hole 2 having an inner diameter of 5.3 mm was formed.

FIG. 3 shows a rectangular Nafion membrane 11 for electrolysis, which has a thickness of 0.14 mm and a side of 120 mm, and is sandwiched between the gas plates 1 via a seal plate 10. Each Nafion membrane 11 has a manifold like the carbon plate 1. Then, a cell assembly positioning hole 2 having an inner diameter of 5.3 mm was formed at a corner of the cell.

As shown in FIG. 4, however, the cell assembly positioning hole 2 of the pressure plate 12 has a chamfered end face with a diameter of 5 mm and a length of 4 mm.
A 00 mm PTFE knock pin 13 was inserted to stand upright.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, a carbon plate (cooling plate) 1 is fitted into the knock pin 13 by means of a cell positioning hole 2 for positioning, and thereafter, the seal plate 10 is similarly positioned and the catalyst electrode 14 is set. The Nafion membrane 11 and the catalyst electrode 14 are polymerized in a predetermined place, and the seal plate 10 and the carbon plate (cooling plate) 1 are similarly positioned and laminated to form a cell 15, which is then required. Then, the stack 16 is constructed by repeatedly stacking the number of cells described above, and then the pressure plate 17 is fitted and overlapped in the positioning hole 2 as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the method of assembling the fuel cell of the embodiment, the knock pin 13 made of PTFE with the chamfered end face is inserted into the cell assembling positioning hole 2 of the pressure plate 12 so as to stand upright.
The knock pin 13 is fitted into the positioning holes 2 of the flat plate-shaped components constituting the fuel cell one by one, so that the knock pin 13 fits smoothly and smoothly, and the knock pin 13 is supple and elastic, so that the position is slightly different. The deviation can be absorbed, and the cell 15 and the stack 16 are assembled with high precision.

Further, since the knock pin 13 has an insulating property, each cell 15 is not short-circuited and has heat resistance, so that the knock pin 13 is not melted by the heat generated and the material strength is excellent. Therefore, the cell 15 and the stack 16 can be securely held, and when tightened with the bolt 18 and the nut 19 using the pressure plate 17, the stack 16 which is an appropriate flexible structure is fixed and the cell 15 is completely sealed. It

Next, another one of the methods for assembling the fuel cell of the present invention
One embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The carbon plate 1'and the Nafion membrane 1 shown in FIG.
Plane shape of 1 ', seal plate 10' is 120mm x 140mm
Rectangular shape, and 60 mm x in the center of the seal plate 10 '
A 60 mm hole is provided, and the catalyst electrode 14 ′ is a 60 mm × 60 mm square, and one of the four corners, the upper right corner in the figure, is the origin (0, 0), which is the lower left corner when processing parts. Chamfered to a length of 2 mm with a taper of 45 ° and made a mark 20.
By identifying the front and back sides and the direction of each component, and positioning them, 75 sheets were stacked to assemble a stack 16 'as shown in FIG.

After the assembly, the appearance was inspected, and it was confirmed that all the 75 chamfered marks 20 in the upper right corner were aligned and there was no error.

On the other hand, according to the conventional method, one side 120 shown in FIG.
mm and 60 mm square carbon plate 1 ″, Nafion membrane 11 ″, seal plate 10 ″, catalyst electrode 14 ″ carefully
When 75 sheets are stacked, the carbon plate 1 ″ can be assembled by rotating 90 ° in the middle and assembled as shown in FIG. 10 without any hindrance, so if you work without noticing, after assembly is completed I couldn't find it by visual inspection, I had to disassemble everything, and after reassembling,
It had to be repeatedly disassembled and reassembled until it was tested by flowing gas or cooling water and found to be correct.

Next, another embodiment of the method for assembling the fuel cell of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The carbon plate (gas plate and cooling plate) 1'and seal plate shown in FIG. Plane shape of 10 ', Nafion membrane 11' catalytic electrode 14 ', etc. is 120mm × 140
It is a rectangle of mm, and one of the four corners, the upper right corner in the figure, is the origin (0, 0), and the lower left corner is 45.
A chamfer was made with a taper of 2 ° to a length of 2 mm to form a mark 20, and a positioning hole 2 for cell assembly having an inner diameter of 5.3 mm was drilled in a corner of the component. However, as shown in Figure 12, 120 mm × 140 mm
A rectangular knock plate 13 having a diameter of 5 mm and a length of 400 mm and made of PTFE was chamfered into the positioning hole 2 for cell assembly of the rectangular pressure plate 12 ′ of FIG.

Next, on the knock pin 13, the above-mentioned respective parts, that is, the carbon plate 1 ', the seal plate 10', the catalyst electrode 14 ', the Nafion membrane 11', the catalyst electrode 14 ', the seal plate 10', and the carbon plate 1 '. , The front and back sides and the direction are identified by each mark 20, and the cells are fitted in the cell positioning holes 2 and positioned and laminated to form a cell 15 'as shown in FIG. In the case of an example, 29 cells are repeatedly laminated to form a stack 16 ′, and then, as shown in FIG. 13, a planar shape having the same dimensions as the above-mentioned parts is formed, one corner is chamfered and a mark 20 is attached, and the corner is formed. After identifying the front and back of the processing plate 17 'with the positioning hole 2 for assembly with an inner diameter of 5.3 mm and the direction by the mark 20, fit the knock pin 13 in the cell positioning hole 2 and stack it on the stack 16', and bolt. Tightened and fixed with 18 and nuts 19.

The stack 16 'thus assembled is
Each part was accurately positioned and held, the accuracy was high, the seal was perfect, and there were no defective products.

[0027]

As described above, according to one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention, a flat plate-shaped component forming the fuel cell is
It is possible to assemble the stack by stacking them without misalignment to form a cell, and also stacking the cells without misaligning them and sealing them with high accuracy and completely.

According to another one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention, it is possible to eliminate mistakes in the front and back of each component and the installation direction when laminating the flat plate-shaped components constituting the fuel cell. In addition to being able to perform, it is possible to confirm a non-defective product and a defective product by externally inspecting the appearance even after the assembly is completed.

Furthermore, according to still another one of the methods for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention, the flat plate-shaped parts constituting the fuel cell are laminated without displacement and the front and back sides and the installation direction are not mistaken. It is possible to assemble a stack without defective products with high accuracy and complete sealing, and furthermore, it is possible to easily confirm the quality by a visual inspection after completion of the assembly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a carbon plate used in one embodiment of a method for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a seal plate used in one embodiment of the method for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a Nafion membrane used in one embodiment of the method for assembling a fuel cell of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a pressure plate used in one embodiment of the assembly of the fuel cell of the present invention.

5 is a view showing a state where cells and a stack are assembled with the knock pins of the pressure plate of FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a state in which the stack shown in FIG. 5 is tightened and fixed with bolts and nuts using a pressure plate.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a plate-shaped component used in another embodiment of the method for assembling the fuel cell of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which the components of FIG. 7 are stacked.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flat plate-shaped component used in a conventional method for assembling a fuel cell.

10 is a diagram showing a state in which the components of FIG. 9 are stacked.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a flat plate-shaped component used in still another embodiment of the method for assembling the fuel cell of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a cell and a stack assembled using the components of FIG. 11.

13 is a diagram showing a state in which the stack shown in FIG. 12 is clamped and fixed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1'Carbon plate 2 Positioning holes 10, 10 'Seal plate 11, 11' Nafion membrane 12, 12 'Pressurizing plate 13 Knock pins 14, 14' Catalyst electrode 15, 15 'Cell 16, 16' Stack 17, 17 'Addition Pressure plate 18 Bolt 19 Nut 20 Mark

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When assembling a fuel cell, a cell assembly positioning hole is formed in a pressure plate for stack pressurization, and a long knock pin made of PTFE with a chamfered end face is inserted into the hole to stand upright. A flat plate-shaped component forming a fuel cell having cell positioning holes is sequentially stacked on the knocking pins by fitting each cell positioning hole to form a cell, and then a required number of cells are repeatedly laminated. A method of assembling a fuel cell, comprising forming a stack, and then tightening and fixing the same using a pressure plate. 2. When assembling a fuel cell, the flat shape of a flat plate-shaped component that constitutes the fuel cell is rectangular, and one of the four corners is chamfered to form a mark. A method for assembling a fuel cell, which comprises stacking after identifying a direction, positioning, and stacking. 3. When assembling a fuel cell, a cell assembly positioning hole is formed in a pressure plate for stack pressurization, and a long knock pin made of PTFE having a chamfered end face is inserted into the hole for uprightness. The planar shape of the flat plate-shaped components that make up the fuel cell is rectangular, and the flat plate-shaped component is provided with a cell positioning hole, and one of the four corners is chamfered to form a mark. After identifying the direction and positioning, the parts are sequentially fitted into the knock pin of each cell positioning hole, and stacked to form a cell, and then the required number of cells are repeatedly stacked to form a stack. After that, a method of assembling a fuel cell, characterized by tightening and fixing using a pressure plate.