FUEL CELL AND METHOD FOR DESIGNING SAME

• Main Author: ICHIMURA TAKESHI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.11.2004
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRICITY; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fuel cell for improving a power generation efficiency by increasing a real contact area between a catalyst layer and an electrolyte of a junction, and a method for designing the same for increasing the real contact area between the catalyst layer and the electrolyte of the junction. SOLUTION: A pressure is applied by fastening a housing disposed outside the junction, and the pressure is dispersed to be transmitted to the junction by disposing a spacer between the housing and the junction. A pressure distribution becomes uniform by dispersing the pressure applied to the junction by the spacer to be transmitted to the junction, so that the real contact area of the interface between the electrolyte and a current collector is increased. By the area where the electrolyte and the current collector are really contacted being enlarged, a power generating reaction gets easy to occur and the power generation efficiency of the fuel cell is increased. An improvement of the efficiency is estimated by modeling the housing, the junction and the spacer and simulating a stress distribution applied to the junction when the pressure is applied to the housing by a contact structural analysis in a finite element method. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI