JPH10177861A - Cooling plate for fuel battery and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and efficient cooling plate wherein a cooling water passage composed of a tube bent in an meandering shape and made of a high heat conductive material is held between two external plate thin plate forming bodies, the thin plate forming bodies are welded to each other to be used as external plates for covering the water passage and, by pressing these in surface directions, the external plates are tightly stuck to the cooling water passage. SOLUTION: A water passage 2 comprising a tube made of copper or aluminum having, preferably an outer diameter of 10mm or more, and bent in a meandering shape and a thin plate made of a similar material for covering the same are formed by drawing, and a cooling plate 1 is constructed by external plates 5 stuck to each other by laser welding. Four gas passage holes 6 are created in the external plates 5 for forming a passage for supplying gas to a fuel cell, and the outer peripheral ends of molded bodies are welded and joined with the peripheral ends of the gas passage holes 6. The inlet and outlet 3 and 4 of the water passage 2 are tightly joined with the outer periphery of the same and thus cooling efficiency and the performance of the fuel cell are improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling plate for a fuel cell, particularly to a water cooling plate for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a room temperature fuel cell such as a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, cooling plates are arranged at appropriate intervals between cells in order to prevent heat generation due to power generation and high temperature. The plate was configured to pass cooling water. This cooling plate has been manufactured by cutting or molding a material such as a metal plate or a carbon plate.

[0003]

As described above, there is a problem that manufacturing a cooling plate by cutting, molding, or the like is expensive. The present invention is inexpensive,
It is another object of the present invention to provide a lightweight fuel cell cooling plate.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cooling plate for a fuel cell according to the present invention comprises a cooling water passage made of a tube of a high heat conductive material bent in a meandering shape, and a high heat conductive material surrounding the cooling water passage. And a shell plate. In the method for manufacturing a cooling plate for a fuel cell according to the present invention, a cooling water passage formed of a tube made of a high heat conductive material bent in a meandering shape is sandwiched between two thin plate forming bodies for an outer shell, and the thin plate forming bodies are welded to each other. A step of forming an outer plate enclosing the cooling water passage, and a step of pressing the outer plate in a plane direction to bring the outer plate into close contact with the cooling water passage.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The cooling plate of the present invention is used in a stacked fuel cell in which a plurality of cells each composed of an anode and a cathode, which are electrolytes and gas diffusion electrodes sandwiching the electrolyte, are stacked. Is what is done. The material of the tube and the shell that constitute the cooling water passage,
A material mainly containing copper or aluminum is suitable, and the outer diameter of the tube is preferably 10 mm or less. An outer shell that covers the cooling water passage is formed by joining at least two molded bodies formed by drawing a thin plate by drawing, by laser welding or the like.

Further, when a step of pressing the outer plate of the cooling plate in the surface direction to bring the outer plate into close contact with the cooling water passage is adopted, the outer plate and the water passage are in close contact with each other, and the cooling efficiency is improved. It is preferable to fill the voids in the outer plate with a powder of a thermally conductive material such as copper or aluminum because the thermal conductivity further increases. As described above, the present invention can provide an inexpensive and efficient cooling plate for a fuel cell.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. << Embodiment 1 >> FIG. 1 is a front view of a cooling plate of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state in which the cooling plate is arranged between cells of a fuel cell. This cooling plate 1 has a meandering outer diameter 1 /
The water passage 2 is formed of an 8-inch copper tube, and a copper outer plate 5 surrounding the water passage 2 is provided. The outer plate 5 has four holes 6 forming a passage for gas supplied to the fuel cell. I have. The outer shell plate is a pair of dish-shaped molded bodies 5a,
5b, the outer peripheral edge and the peripheral edge of the gas passage hole 6 are joined by welding, and the inlet 3 and the outlet 4 of the water passage 2 are joined to the outer periphery of the water passage in close contact.

The shell plate 5 used here is formed by drawing a thin plate and joined by a method such as laser welding, and can be constructed at a low cost. In addition, by including the step of pressing the cooling plate thus configured in the surface direction, the adhesion between the tube constituting the cooling water passage and the outer plate is improved, and heat conduction and electric conductivity are improved. Thus, the cooling efficiency and the performance of the fuel cell can be improved. Further, it is possible to improve the surface accuracy of the cooling plate by pressing, and it is also possible to control the size of the cooling plate in the thickness direction.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 7 denotes a cell of the stacked fuel cell. The cell 7 is provided with a gas passage 8 for supplying a fuel gas and a gas passage 9 for discharging the fuel gas supplied to each cell. One of the holes 6 of the cooling plate communicates with the gas passage 8, and the other hole communicates with the gas passage 9. The fuel gas supplied to the gas passage 8 reaches the fuel electrode from a passage 8a branched to each cell, and is discharged from the branch passage 9a through the passage 9. Although not shown, the other two of the holes 6 are used for the passage of the oxidizing gas. In the above embodiment, copper is used as the material of the cooling water passage and the outer shell plate. However, in another preferred example, for example, cooling is performed by a water passage made of an aluminum tube having an outer diameter of 3 mm and an outer shell plate made of aluminum. Construct a board.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, an inexpensive and efficient cooling plate for a fuel cell can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where the cooling plate is combined with a cell of a fuel cell.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling plate 2 Water passage 3 Cooling water inlet 4 Cooling water outlet 5 Outer plate 5a, 5b Molded body 6 Gas passage hole

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A fuel cell comprising: a cooling water passage made of a tube of a high heat conductive material bent in a meandering shape; and an outer plate made of a high heat conductive material surrounding the cooling water passage. Cooling plate. 2. The cooling plate for a fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein the outer shell plate is formed by joining at least two molded bodies formed by drawing a thin plate by drawing. 3. The cooling plate for a fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein a void in the outer shell plate is filled with a powder of a thermally conductive material. 4. The cooling water passage formed by sandwiching a cooling water passage made of a tube of a high heat conductive material bent in a meandering shape with two thin plate-shaped molded products for an outer shell, and welding the thin plate molded products to each other. A method of manufacturing a cooling plate for a fuel cell, comprising: forming an outer plate enclosing the outer plate; and pressing the outer plate in a plane direction to bring the outer plate into close contact with the cooling water passage.