JPS62122072A - Fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exhaust gas within a gas exhaust manifold without stay within the manifold by connecting a gas supply pipe to the lower part of a gas supply manifold, and a gas exhaust pipe to the upper part of a gas exhaust manifold. CONSTITUTION:A gas supply pipe 8, 8a is connected to the lower part of a gas supply manifold 2, 2a, and a gas exhaust pipe 9, 9a is connected to the upper part of a gas exhaust manifold 3, 3a. By mounting the gas exhaust pipe 9, 9a in the upper part of the gas exhaust manifold 3, 3a, in case hydrogen leaked on the air side or in case a cell stopped with fuel containing hydrogen stayed within the cell, the hydrogen can easily be exhausted from the gas exhaust pipe 9, 9a by the air supplied or inactive gas for purging. Therefore, the safety of the fuel cell is assured.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of application of the invention] The present invention relates to fuel cells.

[Background of the invention]

A fuel cell is constructed to obtain and produce electric power through an electrochemical reaction between a reactant gas, such as hydrogen gas as a fuel gas, and air as an oxidant gas. A unit battery is constructed by interposing an electrolyte layer impregnated with an electrolyte such as phosphoric acid, and interconnectors having grooves for flowing reactive gas are stacked on both sides of this unit battery. For example, hydrogen gas is supplied as a fuel gas, and air, for example, is made to flow as an oxidizing agent through the groove of the other interconnector. Hydrogen gas and air pass through the porous electrode and reach the electrolyte layer, causing an electrochemical reaction to generate electricity.

Unit batteries and interconnectors generally have a rectangular plate shape, and grooves in the interconnector are opened at two opposing edges, and the grooves in one interconnector and the grooves in the other interconnector are orthogonal to each other. are arranged in the direction of As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of unit batteries configured in this manner are stacked to form a square columnar battery body 1. On each of the four sides of the battery body 1, there are gas supply manifolds 2 (for hydrogen gas) for supplying and discharging the reaction gas indicated by arrows in the figure.
, 2a (for air) and exhaust manifolds 3 (for hydrogen gas), 3a (for air) are attached. The hydrogen gas then flows from the gas supply manifold 2 into the groove of one interconnector that is open on one side of the battery body 1, flows through this groove, and passes through the gas exhaust manifold from the side opposite to this one side. It is discharged at 3. Further, air flows from the gas supply manifold 2a into the groove of the other interconnector that is open on one of the other two sides, flows in this groove, and flows from the opposite side to the gas discharge manifold 3a. is discharged. In the figure, 4 is a lower fastener, 5 is an upper fastener, 6 is a bottom hole, and 7 is a pressure vessel.

By the way, in the fuel cell configured in this way, the gas supply manifolds 2, 2a are
Gas supply pipe 8 (for hydrogen gas) that supplies gas to 2a, 8
a (for air) is connected, and the gas exhaust manifolds 3, 3
A is connected to gas exhaust pipes 9 (for hydrogen gas) and 9a (for air) for discharging the gas in the manifolds 3 and 3a, both of which are connected to the lower part. That is, the gas supply pipes 8, 8a are located at the lower part of the gas supply manifolds 2, 2a, and the gas discharge pipes 9, 9a are located at the lower part of the gas discharge manifolds 3, 3.
It was connected to the bottom of a. For this reason, there was a risk that light gas such as hydrogen would remain in the upper part of the manifolds 3, 3a during inert gas purge such as when power generation is stopped. Regarding this, there are Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 57-162273, 58-5978, and 59-75573.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel cell that can improve safety.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, the present invention includes a battery main body in which a plurality of unit cells are stacked, and a gas supply and gas discharge manifold arranged on the side surface of the battery main body for supplying and discharging gas to the battery main body. A fuel cell in which a gas supply pipe and a gas discharge pipe are connected, characterized in that the gas supply pipe is connected to a lower part of the gas supply manifold, and the gas discharge pipe is connected to an upper part of the gas discharge manifold. This allows the gas in the gas exhaust manifold to be exhausted from the gas exhaust pipe without remaining in the manifold.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention. Note that parts that are the same as those in the conventional system are given the same reference numerals, and therefore their explanations will be omitted. In this embodiment, the gas supply pipe 8.8a is connected to the lower part of the gas supply manifolds 2, 2a, and the gas discharge pipes 9, 9a are connected to the upper part of the gas discharge manifold 3.3a. By doing this, the gas supply pipes 8, 8a are connected to the gas supply manifold 2.
The gas exhaust pipes 9, 9a are connected to the upper parts of the gas exhaust manifolds 3, 3a at the lower part of the gas exhaust manifold 3, 3a, so that the gas in the gas exhaust manifolds 3, 3a is discharged from the manifolds 3, 3a.
The fuel cell is now discharged from the gas exhaust pipes 9, 9a without being retained in the gas discharge tube 9, 9a, making it possible to obtain a fuel cell with improved safety.

That is, a gas supply pipe 8 for hydrogen gas is attached to the lower side of the gas supply manifold 2 for hydrogen gas, and a gas exhaust pipe 9 for hydrogen gas is attached to the upper side of the gas exhaust manifold 3 for discharging hydrogen gas. Ta. Further, a gas supply pipe 8a for air was attached to the lower side of the gas supply manifold 2a for air, and a gas exhaust pipe 9a for the same air was attached to the upper side of the gas exhaust manifold 3a for air discharge. Since the gas exhaust pipes 9, 9a are attached to the upper part of the gas exhaust manifolds 3, 3a in this way, it is possible to prevent hydrogen from leaking into the air side, or when fuel containing hydrogen remains inside the battery body 1. When the battery is stopped, hydrogen, which is a light gas such as air supplied when the battery is stopped or inert gas for purging, can be easily discharged from the gas exhaust pipes 9 and 9a, ensuring the safety of the fuel cell. be able to.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention improves the safety of the fuel cell, thereby making it possible to obtain a fuel cell with improved safety.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of an embodiment of the fuel cell of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of a conventional fuel cell. 110. Battery body, 2, 2a... Gas supply manifold, 3, 3a... Gas discharge manifold, 8, 8a.
...Gas supply pipe, 9,9a...Gas discharge pipe.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A battery body in which a plurality of unit batteries are stacked, and a gas supply and gas discharge manifold arranged on the side surface of the battery body to supply and discharge gas to the battery body, and the manifold has a gas supply and discharge manifold. A fuel cell in which a pipe and a gas discharge pipe are connected, wherein the gas supply pipe is connected to a lower part of the gas supply manifold, and the gas discharge pipe is connected to an upper part of the gas discharge manifold. .