JP5223589B2 - Fuel container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fuel container that can be suitably used for a fuel cell such as a direct methanol fuel cell.

  In recent years, a direct methanol fuel cell capable of causing an electrochemical reaction by supplying methanol as a fuel directly to the anode electrode (fuel electrode) without using a reformer for taking out hydrogen (protons). DMFC) is drawing attention. In particular, since this DMFC is suitable for downsizing of devices, it is expected to be used as a fuel cell for portable devices such as a laptop computer (Laptop Computer).

Various means for supplying fuel in such a DMFC have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 includes a fuel container at least partially made of a flexible member, and fuel is supplied by a pump. Propose a fuel cell for portable devices.
In addition, in the case of Patent Document 2, the applicant of the present invention also applied a flexible pouch body in which a film material is formed into a gusset-type pouch as a container that can be used as a fuel container for a fuel cell. A container with a spout serving as a spout was proposed. Furthermore, the present applicant has also proposed a cartridge type fuel container in which a pouch made of a film material is stored in a case made of a rigid material in Patent Document 3.

JP 2004-319388 A JP 2008-56326 A WO2006 / 54489

  By the way, in this type of fuel container, when storing methanol with high risk of ignition as fuel, it is necessary to prevent leakage of methanol to the outside, and fuel supply is stably performed. In order to achieve this, airtightness in the container must be sufficiently ensured.

However, since methanol is highly volatile and has a relatively low boiling point, it is easily vaporized at temperatures that are generally assumed in the use environment of equipment. For this reason, in a container in which a spout is attached to a pouch made of a film material, it must be taken into account that the pouch expands with the vaporization of methanol.
And when the present inventors examined, when the pouch expands, the stress concentrates on the seal portion with the spout and the film material forming the pouch breaks, or the seal portion between the spout and the film material, There is a concern that peeling (seal receding) may occur in the seal portions between the film materials, and the knowledge that the airtightness in the container may be impaired has been obtained.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-mentioned knowledge, and a spout is attached to a pouch as a container body formed by bag-making a flexible material such as a film material, and this is stored in a case. When the fuel container for the fuel cell is made into a cartridge type, even if the contained fuel is vaporized and the pouch is expanded, it is possible to effectively avoid the loss of the airtightness in the container. The purpose is to provide a fuel container that can be used.

The fuel container according to the present invention is a container body formed by bag-making of a flexible material, and a spout for taking out the contents sandwiches the base portion of the spout between the flexible material and the flexible container. A container body attached by overlapping and heat-sealing the edges of the flexible material, the base of the spout heat-sealed by overlapping the edges of the flexible material and the flexible material And a pressing member that sandwiches the sealing portion between the flexible materials, and the width of the pressing surface of the pressing member is set to the sealing portion between the base portion of the spout and the flexible material, and As a length longer than the seal width of the seal portion between the flexible materials and exceeding the distal end side of the base portion of the spout, the seal portion between the base portion of the spout and the flexible material by the pressing member, and Flexible A seal material each other while sandwiching, it is constituted for accommodating the container body in the exterior case.

  According to the present invention, even if the contained fuel is vaporized and the container main body is expanded, the flexible material forming the container main body is prevented from being broken or peeled off, and the airtightness in the container is impaired. Can be effectively avoided.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Here, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of the fuel container according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an outline of the AA section of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the fuel container 1 is a cartridge-type fuel container that can be detachably loaded into a device including a fuel cell such as a direct methanol fuel cell, and the fuel M filled in the container. When is empty, the entire fuel container 1 can be replaced.

Further, in the present embodiment, the fuel container 1 is a so-called active type in which the fuel M filled in the container is sucked out by a suction pump provided in the fuel cell main body, and the fuel M is supplied to the power generation unit. Therefore, it is desired that the volumetric efficiency is high and the fuel M sucking property is good.
For this reason, the fuel container 1 is provided with a pouch 2 as a container body formed by making a flexible material into a bag, and the pouch 2 is filled with the fuel M. And the spout 3 for taking out the fuel M with which it was filled is attached to such a pouch 2, and the pouch 2 used as a container main body by this embodiment is comprised as a pouch with a spout.

  The spout 3 is a hollow cylindrical member. In the illustrated example, the spout 3 is stretched almost perpendicular to the longitudinal direction at the boundary between the base 31 on one end side and the suction port 32 on the other end side. A flange portion 30 is formed. The spout 3 having such a configuration can be used while the base portion 31 is sandwiched between the flexible materials forming the pouch 2 and the edge of the flexible material is brought into contact with the flange portion 30 and positioned. It is attached to the pouch 2 by heat sealing in a state where the edges of the flexible material are overlapped.

  Here, the specific form of the spout 3 is not limited to that illustrated. It can be set as various forms which can be utilized for this kind of pouch with a spout. For example, if the base portion 31 is sandwiched between the flexible materials forming the pouch 2 and is heat-sealed, and the suction port 32 opened to the outside in a state of being attached to the pouch 2, the flange portion 30 is It may be omitted if necessary. In addition to the hollow cylindrical shape of the base 31, for example, in order to achieve good heat sealing with the flexible material forming the pouch 2, for example, around the hollow cylindrical portion In addition, a plurality of rhombus-shaped sealing pieces projecting substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction may be arranged in the longitudinal direction.

  Further, a coupler 5 having a valve mechanism is attached to the suction port 32 of the spout 3 as shown in the figure. When the fuel container 1 is loaded into the device, the tip opening side of the coupler 5 is connected to a fuel suction port provided in the fuel cell main body, and at the same time, the valve mechanism is opened to fill the pouch 2. The sucked fuel M can be sucked out.

As the valve mechanism of the coupler 5, for example, as shown in the figure, a valve body 51 biased by a spring 52 is brought into close contact with a valve seat 53 formed on the inner surface side of the open end of the coupler 5, thereby It can be set as the structure which seals the inside. When the fuel container 1 is loaded into the device, a pin-shaped member (not shown) provided on the fuel suction port side of the fuel cell main body is inserted into the tip opening of the coupler 5.
If it does in this way, a valve mechanism will be open | released by pushing down the valve body 51 against the spring 52 so that contact | adherence with the valve seat 53 may cancel | release the said pin-shaped member, The valve body 51 and the valve seat 53 The flow path of the fuel M can be formed between the two.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the spout 3 to which such a coupler 5 is attached has a smaller diameter of the opening of the base 31 than the diameter of the opening of the suction port 32. . Usually, in this type of spout 3, a flow path having substantially the same diameter is formed from the base 31 to the suction port 32 so that the discharge performance is maintained. In the embodiment, the coupler 5 is attached to the suction port 32. Therefore, in the valve mechanism in the coupler 5, the flow path becomes the narrowest. For this reason, even if the diameter (flow path) of the opening of the base portion 31 is narrowed, the discharge performance of the fuel M is not affected as long as it is sufficiently wider than the flow path in the coupler 5. If the diameter of the opening of the base portion 31 is narrowed and thereby the base portion 31 can be reduced, the residual liquid is more reliably reduced when the fuel M is sucked out of the pouch 2 and folded flat. This is preferable.
Furthermore, the thickness of the base 31 along the direction in which the pouch 2 is folded can be further reduced by making the cross-sectional shape of the base 31 long flat in the width direction of the pouch 2 (for example, an oval shape or a rhombus shape). it can.

  The pouch 2 configured as described above is housed in an exterior case 7 made of a relatively rigid material, as shown in the figure. The coupler 5 is usually attached to the suction port 32 of the spout 3 after the pouch 2 accommodated in the outer case 7 is filled with the fuel M from the suction port 32 of the spout 3. Further, the coupler 5 mounted on the suction port 32 of the spout 3 can be fixed by, for example, fitting the top base 8 with a stopper. Further, in the illustrated example, when the fuel container 1 is stored, the valve mechanism of the coupler 5 is prevented from malfunctioning, so that the fuel M does not leak out. A lid 6 as a member is attached.

  In storing the pouch 2 in the exterior case 7, in this embodiment, the sealing portion 21 a between the base portion 31 of the spout 3 and the flexible material and the sealing portion 21 b between the flexible materials are held by the pressing member 4. The pouch 2 is housed in the outer case 7 together with the pressing member 4 so as to be in the state.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the pressing member 4 can be composed of a pair of split members 4 a and 4 b that sandwich the seal portions 21 a and 21 b. And the recessed part 41 formed according to the external shape of the base 31 of the spout 3 is formed in the press surface 40 of each division member 4a, 4b.
Such a pressing member 4 is formed by, for example, striking the opening of the outer case 7 in a state where the divided members 4a and 4b are combined and the seal portions 21a and 21b are held while being pressed by the respective pressing surfaces 40. It can be attached by plug fitting. As a result, the pouch 2 can be positioned and fixed in the outer case 7.

  Here, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an essential part for explaining an example of the pressing member 4, and in FIG. 3, the seal portions 21 a and 21 b are indicated by diagonal lines. Further, although not particularly illustrated, the divided members 4a and 4b constituting the pressing member 4 may be provided with claws that engage with each other.

  By doing in this way, even if the pouch 2 expand | swells as the filled fuel M vaporizes, the state by which the seal parts 21a and 21b were pressed by the press member 4 is maintained. This prevents the flexible material forming the pouch 2 from being broken due to stress concentration, and preventing the seal portions 21a and 21b from being peeled (seal retreat), thereby improving the airtightness in the container. It is possible to effectively avoid the damage.

Further, when pressing the seal portions 21a and 21b by the pressing member 4, the width W of the pressing surface 40 of the pressing member 4 is longer than the seal width W0 of the seal portions 21a and 21b as shown in FIG. The length exceeds the distal end side of the base 31 . Thereby, peeling of the seal portions 21a and 21b can be more reliably prevented.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the pressing surface 40 of the pressing member 4 is continuous with a curved surface 40a that curves in a direction away from the pouch 2 on the distal end side of the base 31 of the spout 3 as illustrated. As a result, when the pouch 2 expands, the flexible material forming the pouch 2 swells outward along the curved surface 40a, moderately relieving the tension, and applying stress to the flexible material. You can avoid concentrating.

The pouch 2 used as the container body in the present embodiment is preferably a gusset-type pouch having a side wall formed in order to increase its volumetric efficiency. can do.
In the case of a gusset-type pouch, when the fuel M is sucked out, it gradually folds flat according to the amount sucked out. It is also preferable in terms of reduction.

  Here, FIG. 4A shows a development view of an example of the pouch 2. The pouch 2 in this example is folded back as shown in FIG. 4B by a valley fold line VL indicated by a broken line in FIG. 4A and a mountain fold line ML indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The spout 3 is sandwiched between the spout side edge 2a and the spout side edge 2a, the bottom side edge 2b, and the back-attached side edge 2c are overlapped and heat-sealed.

In making the pouch 2 into such a gusset type pouch, from the viewpoint of suppressing the expansion of the pouch 2 due to the vaporization of the fuel M, the width a ₀ of the side surface of the town is set to the side surface of the outer case 7 facing it. It is preferable that the inner width a is substantially equal to the inner width a (see FIG. 2).

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the back-pasted side edge 2c is positioned on one side face while avoiding interference with the spout 3, but in this case, as shown in FIG. 4 (c). When the side-side town is opened, the seal portion 26 of the back-pasted side edge 2 c is pressed against the inner surface of the outer case 7. Thereby, when the filled fuel M is vaporized and the pouch 2 is expanded, the seal portion 26 is hardly peeled off.
FIG. 4C is a transverse cross-sectional view showing an outline of a cross section of the fuel container 1 to which the pouch 2 is applied, and corresponds to a BB cross section of FIG.

  Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the bottom seal 25 in which the bottom side edge 2b is heat-sealed, as shown in FIG. 5A, from the boundary with the non-sealed portion of the bottom seal 25 to the inside of the pouch 2 It is preferable to set these dimensions so that when the pouch 2 is housed in the outer case 7 by bending away the remote part, the bent part contacts the inner bottom surface 71 of the outer case 7.

  By doing so, when the fuel M is filled, the pouch 2 is expanded as shown in FIG. When the filled fuel M is vaporized and the pouch 2 expands, a force that urges the bottom seal 25 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Thereby, the bottom seal 25 is pressed toward the outside of the pouch, and the bottom seal 25 is hardly peeled off.

  For reference, an example in which the pouch 2 is housed in the outer case 7 with the boundary between the bottom seal 25 and the non-seal portion away from the inner bottom surface 71 of the outer case 7 is shown in FIG. In this case, when the fuel M is vaporized and the pouch 2 expands, a force for peeling off the bottom seal 25 acts as shown by an arrow in FIG. 6A, and the bottom seal as shown in FIG. 6B. 25 is easily peeled off.

  In order to prevent the bottom seal 25 from being peeled off, the pouch 2 may be accommodated in the outer case 7 with the bottom seal 25 held between the second pressing members 45 as shown in FIG. At this time, the second pressing member 45 may be composed of a pair of divided members 45a and 45b that sandwich the bottom seal 25, like the pressing member 4 described above. And what is necessary is just to make it attach in the exterior case 7 in the state which clamped the bottom seal 25, combining each division member 45a, 45b and pressing with each press surface.

  In this case, similarly to the description of the pressing member 4, the width of the pressing surface of the second pressing member 45 is longer than the sealing width of the bottom seal 25 in order to prevent the bottom seal 25 from peeling more reliably. In addition, it is preferable that the length exceeds the boundary between the bottom seal 25 and the non-sealed portion. Furthermore, in order to moderate the tension moderately and avoid the stress from concentrating on the flexible material, the second pressing member 45 has a portion that exceeds the boundary with the non-sealed portion of the bottom seal 25. Similarly, it is preferable that the pressing surface is continuous with a curved surface that curves in a direction away from the pouch 2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the pouch 2 may have a form in which no seal portion is present on the inner bottom surface 71 side of the outer case 7 when stored in the outer case 7.
An expanded view of an example of the pouch 2 in this case is shown in FIG. The pouch 2 in this example is folded back as shown in FIG. 9B by a valley fold line VL indicated by a broken line in FIG. 9A and a mountain fold line ML indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 9A. Thus, the spout 3 is sandwiched between the spout side edge 2a and the spout side edge 2a and the side surface edge 2d are overlapped and heat-sealed.

In such an example, the seal portions 27 are formed on both side surfaces. However, as shown in FIG. 7 comes to be pressed against the inner surface. For this reason, when the filled fuel M is vaporized and the pouch 2 expands, the seal portion 27 is unlikely to peel off.
FIG. 9C is a cross-sectional view showing an outline of a cross section of the fuel container 1 to which the pouch 2 is applied, and corresponds to a BB cross section of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the flexible material forming the pouch 2 is generally a resin that has resistance to alcohols such as methanol used as fuel for fuel cells and that can be heat sealed. A film material in which a barrier material layer or the like is laminated is preferably used.

  Examples of heat seal layers include low-elution, heat-resistant, low-rigidity low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, crystalline polypropylene, crystalline propylene-ethylene copolymer, ethylene -Vinyl acetate copolymer, crystalline polybutene-1, crystalline poly 4-methylpentene-1, polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), EVA saponified product, ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer (EEA And the like can be suitably used. Among these, an additive-free linear low density polyethylene with little elution into the fuel is particularly preferable. Moreover, it is preferable that the thickness of a heat seal layer shall be 5-200 micrometers, and when considering the drainage property of the pouch 2, 20-70 micrometers is especially suitable.

  For the barrier material layer, a cyclic olefin-based resin film, a polyester-based resin film, a polyamide-based resin film, an aluminum foil, a silica-deposited polyester film, an alumina-deposited polyester film, or the like can be suitably used. In order to ensure long-term storage with a thin laminated film material, it is most preferable to use an aluminum foil. Moreover, it is preferable that the thickness of a barrier material layer shall be 1-50 micrometers, More preferably, it is 3-9 micrometers.

  When laminating the barrier material layer on the heat seal layer, if necessary, an adhesive layer such as polyurethane adhesive, vinyl acetate adhesive, acid-modified olefin resin, maleic anhydride-modified olefin resin, or the like, between the two. Can also be interposed. Alcohols such as methanol used for fuel have high penetrating power into the material, and are likely to cause elution of low molecular weight components and delamination. For this reason, it is most preferable to use acid-modified olefin resin or maleic anhydride-modified olefin resin having good compatibility with the heat seal layer among the above-described ones. The thickness of the adhesive layer is preferably 0.1 to 30 μm, more preferably 1 to 15 μm.

Each of the above-described layers can be composed of a single material, a combination of a plurality of materials, or a combination of a plurality of layers. In addition to the above-described layers, other layers can be appropriately stacked.
For example, an impact resistant layer can be provided for the purpose of improving pinhole resistance and strength. As the impact resistant layer, a resin film such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon (polyamide), a coextruded film of nylon and an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, and a biaxially stretched film thereof can be suitably used.
These additional layers are preferably laminated outside the barrier material layer.

  Other members such as the pressing member 4, the coupler 5, the outer case 7, and the top base 8 are acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-styrene resin (AS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET). ), Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyacetal (POM), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), modified polyphenylene ether (PPE), etc. These synthetic resin materials are used singly or in combination of two or more, and further used as a composite material in which fillers such as glass fiber and talc are blended as necessary, injection molding, etc. To the specified shape. It can be. Moreover, metal materials, such as aluminum, iron, and stainless steel, can also be used as needed.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. .

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the outer case 7 is shown in which the bottom is integrally formed. However, the bottom may be separated as necessary.
In addition, the pressing member 4 is not limited to the example shown in the drawing, and in order to reduce weight and reduce the amount of resin used, if necessary, the pressing member 40 is left with the pressing surface 40 cut out, and other unnecessary portions are cut out. Can also be applied.

  Further, an O-ring made of an elastic material or the like is appropriately provided at a place requiring a sealing property, such as between the valve body 51 and the valve seat 53 forming the valve mechanism of the coupler 5 or between the coupler 5 and the spout 3. A simple sealing member can be interposed.

  As described above, the present invention can be used as a fuel container used in a fuel cell such as a direct methanol fuel cell.

It is a perspective view showing the outline of the embodiment of the fuel container concerning the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of the AA cross section of FIG. It is a principal part exploded perspective view explaining the example of a press member. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the pouch as a container main body. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example which prevents peeling of a bottom seal. It is a reference figure with respect to the example which prevents peeling of a bottom seal. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of other embodiment of the fuel container which concerns on this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of other embodiment of the fuel container which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the pouch as a container main body.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fuel container 2 Pouch (container body)
21a seal part 21b seal part 3 spout 31 base part 4 pressing member 40 pressing surface 40a curved surface 7 exterior case M fuel

Claims (2)

A container body formed by bag-making of a flexible material, wherein a spout for taking out contents overlaps the edges of the flexible material while sandwiching the base portion of the spout between the flexible material. A container body attached by heat sealing ,
A base part of the spout that is heat-sealed by overlapping edges of the flexible material and the flexible material; and a pressing member that holds the seal part between the flexible materials. ,
The width of the pressing surface of the pressing member is longer than the sealing width of the sealing portion of the base portion of the spout and the flexible material and the sealing portion of the flexible material, and the distal end side of the base portion of the spout As a length exceeding
By the pressing member, the seal portion of the base portion and said flexible material of said spout, and while holding the sealing portion of the flexible material to each other, and characterized in that housing the container body to the outer casing Fuel container. 2. The fuel container according to claim 1 , wherein a pressing surface of the pressing member is continuous with a curved surface that curves in a direction away from the container main body at a distal end side of the base portion of the spout.

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