JPH01279572A - Fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make temperature distribution uniform and to increase mechanical strength by dividing corrugated plates into two or more between a gas inlet and a gas outlet, and positioning each corrugated plate by shifting one or half crest each other. CONSTITUTION:Fuel gas supplied from a passage hole 6 flows from a cut-out part 14 of a masking plate 13 into each of grooves 10C, 10D of the upper surface and the lower surface of a divided corrugated plate 10A. The gas supplied to the groove 10C on the upper surface reacts during flowing along the groove 10C and enters the groove 10D on the lower surface in the connecting part of a divided corrugated plate 10B on the outlet side. The gas supplied to the groove 10D on the lower surface of the divided corrugated plate 10A on the gas inlet side enters the groove 10C on the upper surface of the divided corrugated part 10B on the downstream side. Since the gas passed along the groove on the lower side of the corrugated plate 10A does not react, unreacted gas is supplied from the lower surface of the corrugated plate 10A to the upper surface of the corrugated plate 10B for using the unreacted gas.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a fuel-fired FiN battery used in the energy sector for directly converting the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy.

[Prior Art] Among the fuel cells proposed to date, the molten carbonate type fuel cell is, for example, as shown in FIG.
A tile (electrolyte plate) 1 made of porous material impregnated with molten carbonate as an electrolyte is sandwiched between a cathode (oxygen electrode) 2 and an anode (fuel electrode) 3, and oxidizing gas OG is placed on the cathode 2 side. One cell (■) is one in which electricity is generated by the potential difference generated between the cathode 2 and anode 3 by supplying fuel gas FG to the anode 3 side, and each cell (■) is connected to a separator 4. There is a structure in which multiple layers are laminated via a holder, and holders are placed at the top and bottom of the layer, and the entire structure is tightened and fixed with an appropriate tightening force. Among these, the internal manifold type has an oxidizing gas supply passage hole 5 and a fuel gas supply passage hole 6 provided on one side of the periphery of the tile 1 and the separator 4, as shown in the figure. , an oxidizing gas discharge passage hole 7 and a fuel gas discharge passage hole 8 are provided on the other side of the peripheral portion, and the oxidation gas supplied through the oxidation gas and fuel gas supply passage holes 5 and 6 is provided. Gas OG and fuel gas FG are supplied to the cathode 2 side and the anode 3 side with the separator 4 in between.

Gas flow paths are formed by forming unevenness on both the front and back surfaces of the separator used in the above-mentioned fuel cells and on the gas contact surfaces of the upper and lower holders. The flow path is manufactured by machining or etching.

However, when manufacturing a gas flow path by machining, it is relatively easy to process if the separator or holder is small, but if the separator or holder is large, it becomes difficult to process and it is difficult to manufacture with high precision. Moreover, when manufacturing by etching, if the separator or holder is large, the equipment will be large and the equipment and processing costs will be high, and neither processing method is suitable for increasing the size of the cell. be.

Therefore, in recent years, instead of manufacturing gas flow paths by machining or etching, a corrugated plate 10 made by pressing a thin plate into a corrugated plate shape is used on both the front and back sides of the center plate 11 as shown in FIG. It has been proposed that the separators 9 be made by gluing them together to serve as a partition for the cell (2), or that a corrugated plate be laminated to the holder.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, since the corrugated board 10 can be press-formed,
Although it is easier to manufacture than those in which grooves that serve as gas flow paths are machined or etched, the longer they become, the less accurate the top and bottom surfaces become. Therefore, both the separator and the holder require precision in order to accurately touch the electrode surface, but if they are too long as described above, the precision will not be achieved, making them unsuitable for processing long objects. or,
When using the corrugated plate 10, in order to allow the gas to flow as much as possible on the side in contact with the electrode, insert a round rod into the gas flow path on the center plate 11 side or the holder side of the corrugated plate 10, as shown in Fig. 5. Or, it is filled with a filler 12 such as aron ceramic to seal it. However, as the gas flow path becomes longer, there is a risk that the gas concentration on the gas inlet and outlet sides will change, and in terms of power generation, it is necessary to have uniform temperature distribution and mechanical strength. However, if the gas flows only on one side of the corrugated plate, the flowing gas reacts from the beginning, so the gas temperature increases from the inlet side to the outlet side, making it impossible to achieve a uniform temperature distribution. In addition, when a corrugated plate is used as a separator, the corrugated plate is also laminated when stacking cells, but since the corrugated plate has a structure in which the gas flow path is formed as a series of grooves in the gas flow direction, distortion may occur. There is a problem in that it is easy to cause

Therefore, the present invention aims to prevent the temperature distribution from becoming uneven or the mechanical strength from decreasing even when a corrugated board is used as a separator or a holder, even if it is made into a long piece, so that it can be used as a separator or a holder. The purpose of this is to eliminate the need to insert a round rod or fill in the side where you do not want gas to flow.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention divides a corrugated plate into a plurality of parts between the gas inlet side and the gas outlet side, and each of the divided corrugated plates is connected to each other. The fuel cell has a separator and a holder arranged so that the same gas flows on the front and back sides of the corrugated plate by distributing gases by shifting one peak or half a peak.

[Function] Since the joining parts of the corrugated plates divided in the gas flow direction are shifted by one peak or half a peak, the gas flowing on the surface (electrode side surface) is transferred to the next divided corrugated plate. The gas that enters the back side of the corrugated plate at the joint with the plate, and on the other hand, the gas that enters the back side of the corrugated plate at the gas inlet side flows unreacted and comes out to the surface at the joint of the divided corrugated plate, where it reacts for the first time. will be done.

Therefore, the reaction heat can be equalized in the gas flow direction, and the temperature distribution can be made uniform. In addition, since the corrugated plates are shifted in the direction perpendicular to the gas flow direction at the joint portion, distortion during stacking can be reduced.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which the present invention is applied to a separator.

Similar to the fuel cell shown in Fig. 4, a cell ■ is constructed in which both sides of a tile 1 are sandwiched between a canard 2 and an anode 3, and the oxidizing gas is allowed to flow to the cathode 2 side, and the fuel gas is allowed to flow to the anode 3 side. In a configuration in which the separator 9 is laminated with a separator in between and is integrated with the separator by disposing corrugated plates 10 on both sides of a center plate 11, the corrugated plate 10 is placed in a groove that becomes a gas flow path. The length of each divided corrugated plate part 10A, 10B is shortened as a format in which it is divided into two in the longitudinal direction.
In addition, the joint part of the divided corrugated plate parts 108 and 108 is made into the groove 1.
They are shifted in the lateral direction by a width pitch of 0C and 10D, and set in combination so that the groove 10C on the upper surface of one of the divided corrugated corrugated plate parts 1 to 10A matches the groove 100 on the lower surface of the other divided corrugated plate part 10B.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a mask plate having a notch 14 for connecting the fuel gas supply/discharge passage holes 6 and 8 provided in the center plate 11 to the gas flow passage formed by the full gate plate 10 on the front side of the center plate 11, and 15 denotes a center plate. This mask plate also has a notch and is used to connect the oxidizing gas supply/discharge passage holes 5 and 7 on the back side of 11 to the gas flow path formed by the corrugated plate on the back side.

In the state shown in FIG. 1, the fuel gas guided to the fuel gas supply passage hole 6 first flows from the flow passage hole 6 through the notch 14 of the mask plate 13 to the upper surface (electrode side surface) of the divided corrugated plate portion 10A. ) and bottom surface (center plate side) each 110c
, 100.

The gas that has entered the groove 10C on the upper surface reacts as it flows through the groove 10C, and enters the groove 100 on the lower surface at the joint with the divided corrugated plate section 10B on the discharge side. On the other hand, the gas that has entered the groove 10D on the lower surface of the divided corrugated plate section 10A on the gas inlet side enters into the groove 10C on the upper surface of the divided corrugated plate section 10B on the downstream side in the gas flow direction and is caused to flow therethrough. On this occasion,
The gas that has flowed through the grooves 10D on the lower surface of the divided corrugated plate part 10A has not been reacted with, so the divided corrugated plate part 10
Unreacted gas can be discharged from the lower surface of A to the upper surface of the divided corrugated plate section 10B, and from this point on, the unreacted gas can be used. This makes it possible to make the reaction heat uniform and also to make the temperature distribution uniform.

Next, FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which three divided corrugated plate parts 10 are provided on one side of the center plate 11.
A, 10B, the IOE is arranged in the gas flow direction, and the divided corrugated plate parts 10A and 108.

This shows an example in which the grooves 108 and 10E are combined by shifting the grooves 10C and IOD by one pitch or a half pitch, that is, by shifting one groove or the early opening of the grooves, and further changing the length of the divided corrugated plate portion.

By combining the corrugated plate parts divided in this way and changing the length, it is possible to supply gas with a uniform concentration to the electrode surface, resulting in a uniform power generation distribution and even tile reaction heat. Become.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a separator is exemplified, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to gas channels formed in upper and lower holders.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the fuel cell of the present invention, the gas flow paths of the separator and holder are formed by corrugated plates, and the length of the corrugated plates is shortened so that a plurality of corrugated plates are placed in one part of the groove.
Since they are arranged in a staggered manner, and the gas flows through the hot springs on the front and back sides of the corrugated board, the following excellent effects can be achieved.

(1) Since a plurality of short corrugated plates are used in combination when forming the gas flow path, manufacturing is easy and manufacturing accuracy can be satisfied.

(ii) Since unreacted gas can be released from the joints of each divided corrugated plate, gas with the same concentration as that supplied from the gas inlet side can be used from the middle, and the electrode surface can be Since a uniform amount of gas can be supplied, the power generation distribution will be uniform.

(iii) Moreover, the reaction heat of the tiles can be made uniform by the above (11), and together with the above (1:), the power generation efficiency can be improved.

Provisional) By making it possible to supply fresh gas from the middle of the corrugated plate mentioned above, it is possible to make the gas temperature uniform, the temperature distribution, etc., and easily realize a larger device. By shortening the length and using a plurality of corrugations 1 to 1, the mechanical strength can be maintained when stacked.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a separator according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which cells are stacked via separators, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another example of a separator according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional combustion cell, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional corrugated separator in use. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tile, 2... Cathode, 3... Anode, 4.9... Separator, 10... Corrugated board,
IOA. 108, 10E... Split corrugated plate section, 10C, I
OD...groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Both sides of the tile are sandwiched between a cathode and an anode, and cells are stacked with a separator in between so that oxidizing gas flows to the cathode side and fuel gas flows to the anode side, and holders are placed above and below to complete the entire structure. In the fuel cell, a gas flow path for flowing gas from the gas inlet side to the gas outlet side is formed by a corrugated plate, and the corrugated plate is divided into a plurality of parts in the gas flow direction,
A fuel cell characterized by having a separator and a holder in which the joint parts of each divided short corrugated plate are combined by shifting one groove or half the groove.