JPH0610990B2 - Fuel cell - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fuel cell, and more particularly to a fuel cell that uses an assembled cell constituted by stacking unit cells.

[Background of the Invention]

A cell unit of a conventional fuel cell is composed of an assembled battery in which a unit cell, which is a basic element, is stacked in several tens to several hundreds. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 respectively show a horizontal cross section and a vertical cross section of such a battery unit, wherein 1 is a fuel and a fuel provided with an oxidant passage that are opposed to each other via an electrolyte retention matrix. This is an assembled battery in which rectangular unit cells each having a pole 2 and an oxidant electrode 3 are stacked. In this unit cell, a fuel 4 and an oxidant 5 are supplied in directions orthogonal to each other. Then, on the side surface of the assembled battery 1, fuel side manifolds 61, 62 and oxidant side manifolds 71, 72 for supplying and discharging the fuel 4 and the oxidant 5 are installed via a seal member 8. The assembled battery 1 in which the manifolds 61, 62, 71, 72 are installed is housed in a pressure vessel 9 filled with nitrogen gas,
It becomes one battery unit. In addition, 10 is a current collecting plate provided on the upper and lower ends of the assembled battery 1, which is a lead wire 17 and a terminal 12.
It has a structure to draw electricity to the outside through.

However, since the size of the unit battery is limited by the material and manufacturing method, 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 to secure the required output, but in such a case, the skirt area becomes large. . Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the hem area as much as possible, and countermeasures are urgently needed.

[Object of the Invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a battery unit having a small skirt area and a large output, which can cope with various power generation output scales.

[Outline of Invention]

The point of the present invention is to stack a plurality of unit cells in which a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode face each other via a matrix for holding an electrolyte and a separator, and to form a manifold for supplying and discharging a fuel gas and an oxidant gas on the side surface thereof. A plurality of the provided assembled cells are linearly arranged and housed in a horizontal pressure vessel, and an inlet manifold or an outlet manifold for either one of the fuel gas and the oxidant gas is provided between two adjacent assembled cells. A fuel cell is characterized by having a common manifold.

The present invention was obtained as a result of studying a method of increasing the output of a cell unit and reducing the number of cell units arranged in order to reduce the skirt area of a conventional fuel cell as much as possible. That is, as a method of increasing the output of the battery unit, there are a method of increasing the number of stacked unit batteries and a method of increasing the size of a rectangular battery element forming the unit battery. However, the former has a system for the number of layers due to height restrictions based on transportation restrictions, etc., and the latter has battery elements, that is, due to the system of material dimensions and manufacturing facility capacity.
There is a limit to the size increase of the assembled battery. There is also a method of housing a plurality of assembled batteries in one vertical pressure vessel and sharing some of the manifolds, but there is a problem in the reliability of the gas sealing technology for the common manifold.

The present invention stores a plurality of assembled batteries in a horizontal pressure vessel,
Further, when the space inside the container is effectively used for piping and the power generation unit including this horizontal pressure container as one unit is installed in the power generation facility, a stacked structure is used to solve the problems in the future. Is.

3 and 4 are cross-sectional views showing a state in which a plurality of assembled batteries are housed in a horizontal pressure vessel. 1a, 1b, 1c
Is an assembled battery, and in FIG. 3, three assembled batteries of the same type are housed in the horizontal pressure vessel 9a.

In this fuel cell, three assembled cells of the same type are arranged in series, so that the height can be reduced accordingly. Further, by utilizing the space between the side surface of each of the assembled batteries and the horizontal pressure vessel and providing the common pipe 13 for supplying and discharging the raw material gas of the plurality of assembled batteries, a complicated pipe becomes unnecessary. As a result, the size of the pressure vessel can be reduced with respect to the rate of increase in the output of the battery unit.

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

Further, in the present invention, the installation space is reduced by sharing the common manifold for supplying and discharging the raw material gas between the adjacent assembled batteries.

Example of Invention

 Examples will be described below.

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Although the assembled batteries 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d are housed in the horizontal pressure vessel 9a, in this embodiment, the assembled battery 1a and the assembled battery 1b, the assembled battery 1c, the assembled battery 1d and the assembled battery 1d are oxidant outlets. The manifold 72 'is shared as a common manifold, and the assembled battery 1b and the assembled battery 1c share the oxidant inlet manifold 71 as a common manifold. Since this method is the same as the conventional manifold seal method and does not require a special seal structure, the length of the horizontal pressure vessel can be shortened by the amount of sharing the manifold, which has the effect of reducing the installation space. . Further, the fuel side may be a common manifold.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is a further improvement of the effect of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. That is, it shows one example of installing the battery unit of the present invention in a power plant, the battery unit according to the power generation output scale, was housed in the horizontal pressure vessel 9a without installing a special frame or the like. The battery unit itself is built up by stacking and fixing it, and the output of the battery unit is diversified, and the hem area is as large as possible for various power generation output scales without restrictions on materials, manufacturing equipment, and transportation limits. It is possible to support with a simple battery unit group with a small hem.

〔The invention's effect〕

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The electric charge battery of the present invention can provide a battery unit having a small hem area and a large output scale, which can cope with various power generation output scales.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional fuel cell cell unit, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional fuel cell cell unit, and FIG.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are vertical cross-sectional views of a fuel cell using a horizontal pressure vessel, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an explanation showing a hem of a fuel cell of the present invention. It is a figure. 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d ... Assembly battery, 72 '... Common oxidant outlet manifold, 9a ... Horizontal pressure vessel, 13 ...
… Common piping for supply and discharge.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of unit cells in which a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode face each other with an electrolyte holding matrix interposed therebetween with a separator interposed therebetween, and a manifold for supplying and discharging a fuel gas and an oxidant gas is provided on a side surface thereof. A plurality of such assembled cells are linearly arranged and housed in a horizontal pressure vessel, and an inlet manifold or an outlet manifold for either one of the fuel gas and the oxidant gas between two adjacent assembled cells is common. A fuel cell having a manifold. 2. A fuel cell or an oxidant gas is supplied to and discharged from each of the assembled cells in a space between a side surface of each of the assembled cells housed in the lateral pressure vessel and an inner surface of the lateral pressure container. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein a common pipe is provided. 3. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein the horizontal pressure vessels accommodating the assembled cells are stacked and installed.