JPS60101882A - Fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure such a cell unit as being conformable to every type of generating output scales and large enough in its output despite small in a setting area, by housing plural concentric cells inside a horizontal type pressure vessel. CONSTITUTION:A unit cell having a fuel pole and an oxidizer pole being opposed with each other via an electrolyte holding matrix is plurally laminated one after another, while plural concentric cells having each flow passage for feed and discharge of stock gas for the fuel pole and the oxidizer pole are housed inside a horizontal type pressure vessel. For example, three congeneric concentric cells are housed inside a horizontal type pressure vessel 9a and directly set up so as not to cause each side of these concentric cells 1a, 1b and 1c to contact with one another. With this constitution, utilizing an empty space between each side of these concentric cells disposed and the horizontal pressure vessel, common piping 13 for feed and discharge of the stock gas for plural concentric cells is installed whereby complex piping becomes useless so that size of the pressure vessel is made possible to be smaller in relation to an increasing rate of output in the cell unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a fuel cell, and particularly to a fuel cell using an assembled battery configured by stacking unit cells.

[Background of the invention]

A battery unit of a conventional fuel cell is constituted by an assembled battery in which dozens to hundreds of unit cells, which are basic elements, are stacked. Figures 1 and 2 show a cross-section and a longitudinal cross-section of such a battery unit, respectively. This is an assembled battery in which rectangular unit cells having electrodes 2 and oxidizer electrodes 3 are stacked, and in this unit cell, fuel 4 and oxidizer 5 are supplied in directions perpendicular to each other (2). . On the side of the battery assembly 1, there is a fuel side manifold 61' for supplying and discharging the fuel 4 and the oxidizer 5;
62 and oxidizer side manifolds 71 and 72 are installed via the seal member 8.

The assembled battery 1 in which the manifolds 6], 62, 71, and 72 are installed is housed in a pressure vessel 9 filled with nitrogen gas, and becomes one battery unit 1. In addition, 10 is a current collector plate provided at the lower end of the assembled battery I, and the leader wire 17
The structure is such that electricity is drawn out through the terminal 12 and the terminal 12.

However, the size of the battery is limited by the materials and manufacturing method, so the output of the battery unit is small. Therefore, when a large power generation output scale is required, a large number of these battery units are arranged according to the power generation output scale.
Although the necessary output is secured, in such a case, the installation area becomes large. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the installation area as much as possible, and countermeasures are urgently needed.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to (3) provide a battery unit that can accommodate various power generation output scales, has a small installation area, and has a large output.

[Summary of the invention]

The gist of the present invention is that a plurality of unit cells each having a fuel electrode and an oxidizer electrode facing each other via an electrolyte retaining matrix are stacked with a separator interposed therebetween, and a plurality of unit cells are stacked with a separator interposed therebetween. A plurality of assembled batteries are housed in a horizontal pressure vessel with a flow path.

The present invention was obtained as a result of studies on methods for increasing the output of the battery unit l- and reducing the number of battery units arranged in order to minimize the installation area of conventional fuel cells. That is, methods for increasing the output of a battery unit include a method of increasing the number of stacked unit cells, and a method of increasing the dimensions of rectangular battery elements constituting the unit cells. However, with the former, there is a limit to the number of layers that can be stacked due to height restrictions based on transportation restrictions, etc., and with the latter, there is a limit to the size of the battery element, that is, the battery assembly, due to limitations on material dimensions and manufacturing equipment capacity. There is.

(4) There is also a method of storing a plurality of assembled batteries in one vertical pressure vessel and having some of them share a manifold, but there is a problem with the reliability of the gas seal technology of the common manifold.

The present invention stores a plurality of assembled batteries in a horizontal pressure vessel,
Furthermore, these problems are solved by effectively utilizing the space inside the container for piping, and by creating a stacked structure when installing a power generation unit that uses this horizontal pressure vessel as one unit in power generation equipment. It is.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Examples will be described below.

FIGS. 3 and 4 each show a cross section of an embodiment of the present invention. Reference characters la, lb, and lc are battery packs, and three battery packs of the same type are housed in a horizontal pressure vessel 9a, and the battery packs 1a, lb, and lc are arranged in series without their side surfaces touching each other.

Since the fuel cell of this embodiment has three assembled batteries of the same type arranged in series, the height can be reduced accordingly. In addition, the space between the side surface of each arrayed battery pack (5) and the horizontal pressure vessel is used to provide a common piping 13 for supplying and discharging raw material gas for a plurality of battery packs, thereby eliminating the need for complicated piping. As a result, it has become possible to reduce the size of the pressure vessel in proportion to the rate of increase in the output of the battery unit.

Moreover, by making the pressure vessel horizontal, the center of gravity of the battery unit is lowered, and earthquake resistance can be improved.

Next, another embodiment is shown in FIG. Batteries 1a, lb, lc, and 1d are housed in the horizontal pressure vessel 9a, and in this embodiment, the oxidizer outlet manifolds 72' of the batteries 1a and 1b, and the batteries 1c and 1d are stored in the horizontal pressure vessel 9a. An oxidant outlet manifold 72' is provided. This method is the same as the conventional manifold seal method and does not require a special seal configuration, so the length of the horizontal pressure vessel can be shortened by the amount of shared manifold, which has the effect of reducing installation space. . Alternatively, the fuel side may be used as a common manifold.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is based on (6) of the present invention shown in FIG. This embodiment further improves the effects of the embodiment.

That is, this shows an embodiment in which the battery unit of the present invention is installed in a power plant, and the battery unit can be housed in a horizontal pressure vessel 9a without installing a special frame or the like according to the scale of power generation output. By stacking and fixing the battery unit itself, the output of the battery unit can be diversified, and it can be used as much as possible for various power generation output scales without restrictions on materials, manufacturing equipment, or transportation limits. This can be done with a group of battery units that require a small installation space.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The fuel cell of the present invention corresponds to various power generation output scales.
The installation area is small, and the output can be increased within the installation area.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional fuel cell unit, Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional fuel cell unit, and Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional fuel cell unit.
The figure is a longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the fuel cell of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fuel cell of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, The figure is an explanatory view showing the installation state of the fuel cell of the present invention. ], la, lb, lc, ld-collected battery, 72'...
Common oxidant outlet manifold, 9a...Horizontal pressure vessel, 13...Common piping for supply and discharge. (8) ■ 1 FJZ Diagram n ￥J3 Diagram 4 Ro

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (2) A plurality of unit cells each having a fuel electrode and an oxidizer electrode facing each other via an electrolyte retaining matrix are stacked with a separator interposed therebetween, and a source gas is supplied to the fuel electrode and the oxidizer electrode. What is claimed is: 1. A fuel cell in which a plurality of assembled batteries having flow paths for supplying and discharging are housed in a pressure vessel, characterized in that a plurality of the assembled batteries are housed in a horizontal pressure vessel. 2. In claim 1, a common space for supplying and discharging raw material gas to each of the battery packs is provided in a space between the horizontal pressure vessel and a side surface of each of the battery packs arranged in the horizontal pressure vessel. A fuel cell characterized by having piping. 3. In claim 1 or 2, at least two of the plurality of assembled batteries are paired, and either one of the fuel electrode and the oxidizer electrode shares the raw material gas supply manifold. (1) A fuel cell characterized by comprising: 4. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein when the horizontal pressure vessel containing the assembled battery is installed in a power generation facility, the horizontal pressure vessel is placed in a stack i9.