PEM electrolytic bath structure and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of electrolytic cells. The invention relates to the field of electrolytic cell structures, in particular to a PEM electrolytic cell structure and a manufacturing method thereof.The PEM electrolytic cell structure comprises an upper end plate and a lower end plate, a plurality of polar plate assemblies are arranged between the upper end plate and the lower end plate in an overlapped mode, a membrane electrode assembly is arranged between every two adjacent polar plate assemblies, and each polar plate assembly comprises a polar plate, a titanium felt and carbon; the two sides of the polar plate are connected with frame-shaped sealing gaskets, the titanium felt and the carbonaceous material are respectively connected with the two sides of the polar plate and are both located in the sealing gaskets, the membrane electrode assembly comprises a proton exchange membrane and electrode frames, and the two sides of the proton exchange membrane are both connected with the electrode frames. According to the PEM electrolytic bath structure and the manufacturing method thereof provided by the invention, the stacked materials are respectively pre-processed into the polar plate assembly and the membrane electrode assembly, so that the stacked materials are modularly distributed, and the stacking efficiency and the stacking quality of the PEM electrolytic bath are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of electrolyzers, and more specifically, to a PEM electrolyzer structure and a manufacturing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In the existing PEM electrolyzer structure, the stacked materials include titanium felt, sealing gasket, plate, carbon, pole frame and proton exchange membrane, etc. During the stacking process, the materials are stacked in sequence. The existing PEM electrolyzer structure mainly has the following problems:

[0003] 1. Too many stacking materials need to be stacked one by one, which takes a long time, resulting in low stacking efficiency of PEM electrolyzer;

[0004] 2. During the stacking process, due to the similar appearance of some materials, similar materials are easy to mix, which leads to problems in material stacking and affects the quality of the PEM electrolyzer;

[0005] 3. The stacking accuracy of multi-layer materials is difficult to guarantee, and problems are more likely to occur during the stacking process, affecting the quality of the PEM electrolyzer;

[0006] 4. Carbon and titanium felt are in a free state and are easy to overlap with the sealing gasket during stacking. Summary of the invention

[0007] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a PEM electrolyzer structure and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein stacking materials are pre-processed into a plate assembly and a membrane electrode assembly respectively, so that the stacking materials are distributed in a modular manner, thereby improving the stacking efficiency and stacking quality of the PEM electrolyzer.

[0008] In order to achieve these purposes and other advantages according to the present invention, a PEM electrolyzer structure is provided, including an upper end plate and a lower end plate, a plurality of groups of electrode plate assemblies are stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate, a membrane electrode assembly is arranged between two adjacent groups of the electrode plate assemblies, the electrode plate assembly includes a electrode plate, titanium felt and carbon, frame-type sealing gaskets are connected on both sides of the electrode plate, the titanium felt and carbon are respectively connected to both sides of the electrode plate and are both located in the sealing gasket, the membrane electrode assembly includes a proton exchange membrane and an electrode frame, and the electrode frame is connected on both sides of the proton exchange membrane.

[0009] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0010] 1. The PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention adopts a modular design. There are only two materials in the PEM electrolyzer structure, namely, the plate assembly and the membrane electrode assembly, which reduces the number of materials in the stacking process. Compared with the traditional stacking of materials layer by layer, the reduction of materials will shorten the time spent on material loading and reduce the time required for alignment between materials, thereby effectively shortening the time spent on stacking and improving the stacking efficiency of the PEM electrolyzer. At the same time, the stacking process is simplified, the stacking time is shortened, and the error can be reduced, the stacking accuracy of the PEM electrolyzer is improved, and the quality of the PEM electrolyzer is ensured.

[0011] 2. The PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention has only two materials, namely, the plate assembly and the membrane electrode assembly. The plate assembly and the membrane electrode assembly have obvious appearance difference and are easy to distinguish. Mixing of materials is not likely to occur, which may cause problems in material stacking and affect the quality of the PEM electrolyzer.

[0012] 3. In the PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention, the pole plate, titanium felt, carbon and sealing gasket are fixed together to form a pole plate assembly in the form of "titanium felt + sealing gasket + pole plate + sealing gasket + carbon", and the proton exchange membrane and pole frame are fixed together to form a membrane electrode assembly in the form of "pole frame + proton exchange membrane + pole frame". In the stacking process, taking the pole plate assembly as an example, compared with the traditional stacking method, that is, first placing the sealing gasket and carbon on the pole frame in turn, and it is necessary to ensure that the carbon is located in the sealing gasket, and then placing the sealing gasket and titanium felt on the pole plate in turn, the carbon, titanium felt and sealing gasket are in a free state during the entire stacking process, and there is no external force to fix the stack during the stacking process, so the carbon, titanium felt and sealing gasket are very easy to move relative to the pole frame or pole plate during the stacking process, and even the carbon or titanium felt and the sealing gasket overlap, affecting the quality of the PEM electrolyzer.

[0013] On the basis of the above technical solution, the present invention can also be improved as follows:

[0014] Furthermore, in the PEM electrolyzer structure, the titanium felt and the electrode plate are fixed by welding.

[0015] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further solution is: in this further solution, the titanium felt and the electrode plate are fixed by welding, and the titanium felt and the electrode plate are completely fitted, which can increase the flatness of the titanium felt and reduce the risk of puncturing the membrane electrode. At the same time, after welding, the position of the titanium felt and the electrode plate is fixed, and after the PEM electrolyzer structure is assembled, the titanium felt will not move on the electrode plate, so there will be no overlap.

[0016] Furthermore, in the PEM electrolyzer structure, the titanium felt and the electrode plate are welded by side welding, spot welding, or a combination of the two.

[0017] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, when the titanium felt is welded to the electrode plate, the titanium felt and the electrode plate can be connected through multiple welding points by spot welding. Under the premise of ensuring the stability of the connection between the titanium felt and the electrode plate, the area of ​​the welding part is reduced, the contact area between the titanium felt and the electrode plate is increased, the contact resistance is reduced, and the hydrophobicity is also ensured. Similarly, the side welding of the titanium felt can also be adopted so that the titanium felt can be completely in contact with the electrode plate. In addition, according to actual needs, if the side welding and spot welding alone cannot ensure the connection stability between the titanium felt and the electrode plate, welding can also be carried out by combining side welding and spot welding.

[0018] Furthermore, in the PEM electrolyzer structure, the carbon material and the electrode plate are fixed by bonding.

[0019] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, the carbonaceous material and the electrode plate are fixed by pasting, the positions of the carbonaceous material and the electrode plate are fixed, and after the PEM electrolyzer structure is assembled, the carbonaceous material will not move on the electrode plate, so that no overlapping phenomenon will occur.

[0020] Furthermore, in the PEM electrolyzer structure, the sealing gasket and the electrode plate are fixed by bonding.

[0021] The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure, comprising the following steps:

[0022] S1. Making the plate assembly:

[0023] Connect frame-shaped sealing gaskets on both sides of the electrode plate, fix the titanium felt and carbon on both sides of the electrode plate, and the titanium felt and carbon are both located in the corresponding sealing gaskets;

[0024] S2. Making membrane electrode assembly:

[0025] Pole frames are respectively arranged on both sides of the proton exchange membrane;

[0026] S3. Connection of PEM electrolyzer structure:

[0027] A plurality of groups of the electrode plate assemblies are stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate, and a membrane electrode assembly is arranged between two adjacent groups of the electrode plate assemblies.

[0028] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, the pole plate, titanium felt, carbon and sealing gasket are fixed together in advance to form a pole plate assembly in the form of "titanium felt + sealing gasket + pole plate + sealing gasket + carbon"; at the same time, the proton exchange membrane and the pole frame are fixed together to form a membrane electrode assembly in the form of "pole frame + proton exchange membrane + pole frame", so that the stacked materials of the electrolyzer are decomposed into a pole plate assembly and a membrane electrode assembly, and the pole plate assembly and the membrane electrode assembly are staggered and stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate to form a PEM electrolyzer structure. Then, multiple sets of pole plate assemblies are stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate, and the two sets of pole plate assemblies at the two ends are respectively connected to the upper end plate and the lower end plate, and the inner sides of the upper end plate and the lower end plate are sequentially provided with insulating plates and current collecting plates, and a membrane electrode assembly is provided between the two adjacent sets of pole plate assemblies. After the stacking of the PEM electrolyzer is completed, the upper end plate and the lower end plate are connected and fixed by multiple connectors, and the manufacture of the PEM electrolyzer structure is completed.

[0029] Furthermore, in the manufacturing method of a PEM electrolyzer structure, when the titanium felt and the carbon are respectively fixed on the electrode plate in S1, the relative positions between the electrode plate and the titanium felt and the carbon are ensured by visual positioning.

[0030] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, when connecting the titanium felt and the carbon material to the electrode plate, the visual positioning technology is applied, and when the titanium felt and the carbon material are placed on the electrode plate, the positions of the titanium felt and the carbon material are positioned to ensure that they are located inside the corresponding sealing gasket, thereby ensuring that the titanium felt and the carbon material will not overlap with the sealing gasket.

[0031] Furthermore, in the method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure, the titanium felt and the electrode plate are welded by side welding, spot welding, or a combination of the two.

[0032] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, when the titanium felt is welded to the electrode plate, the titanium felt and the electrode plate can be connected through multiple welding points by spot welding. Under the premise of ensuring the stability of the connection between the titanium felt and the electrode plate, the area of ​​the welding part is reduced, the contact area between the titanium felt and the electrode plate is increased, the contact resistance is reduced, and the hydrophobicity is also ensured. Similarly, the side welding of the titanium felt can also be adopted so that the titanium felt can be completely in contact with the electrode plate. In addition, according to actual needs, if the side welding and spot welding alone cannot ensure the connection stability between the titanium felt and the electrode plate, welding can also be carried out by combining side welding and spot welding.

[0033] Furthermore, in the method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure, when the titanium felt and the electrode plate are connected by spot welding, a plurality of welding spots are distributed in a rectangular array.

[0034] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, when the titanium felt and the electrode plate are connected by spot welding, multiple welding points are distributed in a rectangular array, so that the multiple welding points between the titanium felt and the electrode plate are evenly distributed, thereby ensuring the stability of the connection between the titanium felt and the electrode plate.

[0035] Furthermore, in the manufacturing method of the PEM electrolyzer structure, when the titanium felt and the electrode plate are connected by spot welding, welding is started from the welding point located in the middle, and the welding track of the welding point is spiral from the inside to the outside.

[0036] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, in order to ensure the flatness of the welding, the spot welding route map can choose to first internally and then externally, reducing the possibility of the titanium felt sliding relative to the electrode plate during welding, thereby reducing the impact of welding deformation on welding quality and ensuring the stability of the welding between the titanium felt and the electrode plate.

[0037] Other advantages, objectives and features of the present invention will be embodied in part through the following description, and in part will be understood by those skilled in the art through study and practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 An exploded view of the PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 3 A side view of the PEM electrolyzer structure of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 4 It is a structural schematic diagram of the electrode assembly of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 5 A top view of the electrode assembly of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 6 It is a schematic structural diagram of the membrane electrode assembly of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the connection between the titanium felt and the electrode plate of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the spot welding sequence of the titanium felt and the electrode plate according to the present invention.

[0046] Wherein, the reference numerals represent:

[0047] Upper end plate 1; lower end plate 2; plate assembly 3; plate 31; titanium felt 32; carbon 33; sealing gasket 34; membrane electrode assembly 4; proton exchange membrane 41; pole frame 42; insulating plate 5; current collecting plate 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] The present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with embodiments so that those skilled in the art can implement the invention with reference to the description.

[0049] It should be noted that the experimental methods described in the following embodiments are conventional methods unless otherwise specified, and the reagents and materials are commercially available unless otherwise specified; in the description of the present invention, the terms "lateral", "longitudinal", "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0050] like Figure 1-Figure 7 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PEM electrolyzer structure, comprising an upper end plate 1 and a lower end plate 2, wherein the inner sides of the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are respectively provided with an insulating plate 5 and a current collecting plate 6; a plurality of groups of electrode assemblies 3 are stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2, and a membrane electrode assembly 4 is provided between two adjacent groups of the electrode plate assemblies 3, wherein the electrode plate assembly 3 comprises an electrode plate, a titanium felt 32 and a carbonaceous material 33, frame-type sealing gaskets 34 are connected on both sides of the electrode plate, the titanium felt 32 and the carbonaceous material 33 are respectively connected to both sides of the electrode plate and are both located in the sealing gasket 34, and the membrane electrode assembly 4 comprises a proton exchange membrane 41 and an electrode frame 42, and the electrode frame 42 is connected on both sides of the proton exchange membrane 41. The plate assembly 3 connected to the upper end plate 1 is not provided with titanium felt 32, and the plate assembly 3 connected to the lower end plate 2 is not provided with carbon 33; the titanium felt 32 is fixed to the plate by welding, and specifically, the titanium felt 32 is welded to the plate by one of side welding and spot welding or a combination of the two. The carbon 33 is fixed to the plate by gluing. The sealing gasket 34 is fixed to the plate by gluing.

[0051] In this embodiment, the electrode plate, titanium felt 32, carbonaceous material 33 and sealing gasket 34 are fixed together in advance to form an electrode plate assembly 3 in the form of "titanium felt 32+sealing gasket 34+electrode plate+sealing gasket 34+carbonaceous material 33"; at the same time, the proton exchange membrane 41 and the electrode frame 42 are fixed together to form a membrane electrode assembly 4 in the form of "electrode frame 42+proton exchange membrane 41+electrode frame 42", so that the stacked materials of the electrolytic cell are decomposed into the electrode plate assembly 3 and the membrane electrode assembly 4, and the electrode plate assembly 3 and the membrane electrode assembly 4 are alternately stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 to form a PEM electrolytic cell structure. Then, a plurality of electrode plate assemblies 3 are stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2. The two electrode plate assemblies 3 at the two ends are connected to the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 respectively. The inner sides of the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are provided with insulating plates 5 and current collecting plates 6 in sequence. A membrane electrode assembly 4 is provided between two adjacent electrode plate assemblies 3. After the stacking of the PEM electrolyzer is completed, the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are connected and fixed by multiple connectors, and the manufacture of the PEM electrolyzer structure is completed.

[0052] Preferably, as another embodiment of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure is provided, comprising the following steps:

[0053] S1. Making a plate assembly 3:

[0054] A frame-shaped sealing gasket 34 is connected to both sides of the electrode plate, and the titanium felt 32 and the carbon 33 are fixed to both sides of the electrode plate, and the titanium felt 32 and the carbon 33 are both located in the corresponding sealing gasket 34; Figure 8 As shown, the titanium felt 32 is welded to the electrode plate by side welding, spot welding or a combination of the two; the carbon material 33 is fixed to the electrode plate by gluing; and the sealing gasket 34 is fixed to the electrode plate by gluing.

[0055] When the titanium felt 32 and the carbonaceous material 33 are fixed on the electrode plates respectively, visual positioning technology is applied to locate the positions of the titanium felt 32 and the carbonaceous material 33 to ensure that they are located inside the corresponding sealing gasket 34, thereby ensuring that the titanium felt 32 and the carbonaceous material 33 will not overlap with the sealing gasket 34.

[0056] S2. Manufacturing membrane electrode assembly 4:

[0057] Pole frames 42 are respectively provided on both sides of the proton exchange membrane 41;

[0058] S3. Connection of PEM electrolyzer structure:

[0059] Multiple groups of the electrode assembly 3 are stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2, and a membrane electrode assembly 4 is provided between two adjacent groups of the electrode assembly 3. When connecting the PEM electrolyzer structure, in addition to the traditional stacking method, that is, after stacking multiple groups of electrode assemblies 3 and membrane electrode assemblies 4 on the lower end plate 2 in sequence, the upper end plate 1 is covered, and finally the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are connected. In this embodiment, a support platform can be provided, and the electrode assembly 3 is vertically arranged on the support platform, and then the membrane electrode assembly 4 and the electrode assembly 3 are connected synchronously at both ends thereof, and after the stack is aligned, the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are vertically installed on both sides of the material, respectively, and finally the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are connected to complete the connection of the PEM electrolyzer structure. In this process, compared with the traditional stacking method, the stacking time can be effectively shortened, and the efficiency of the PEM electrolyzer structure connection process can be further improved.

[0060] The beneficial effect of adopting the above further scheme is: in this further scheme, the electrode plate, titanium felt 32, carbonaceous material 33 and sealing gasket 34 are fixed together in advance to form a electrode plate assembly 3 in the form of "titanium felt 32+sealing gasket 34+electrode plate+sealing gasket 34+carbonaceous material 33"; at the same time, the proton exchange membrane 41 and the electrode frame 42 are fixed together to form a membrane electrode assembly 4 in the form of "electrode frame 42+proton exchange membrane 41+electrode frame 42", so that the stacked materials of the electrolytic cell are decomposed into the electrode plate assembly 3 and the membrane electrode assembly 4, and the electrode plate assembly 3 and the membrane electrode assembly 4 are alternately stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 to form a PEM electrolytic cell structure. Then, a plurality of electrode plate assemblies 3 are stacked between the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2. The two electrode plate assemblies 3 at the two ends are connected to the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 respectively. The inner sides of the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are provided with insulating plates 5 and current collecting plates 6 in sequence. A membrane electrode assembly 4 is provided between two adjacent electrode plate assemblies 3. After the stacking of the PEM electrolyzer is completed, the upper end plate 1 and the lower end plate 2 are connected and fixed by multiple connectors, and the manufacture of the PEM electrolyzer structure is completed.

[0061] Preferably, as another embodiment of the present invention, when the titanium felt 32 is connected to the electrode plate by spot welding, a plurality of welding spots are distributed in a rectangular array.

[0062] In this embodiment, when the titanium felt 32 is connected to the electrode plate by spot welding, multiple welding points are distributed in a rectangular array, so that the multiple welding points between the titanium felt 32 and the electrode plate are evenly distributed, thereby ensuring the stability of the connection between the titanium felt 32 and the electrode plate.

[0063] Preferably, as another embodiment of the present invention, when the titanium felt 32 and the electrode plate are connected by spot welding, welding is started from the welding point located in the middle, and the welding track of the welding point is spiral from inside to outside.

[0064] In this embodiment, in order to ensure the flatness of the welding, the spot welding route diagram can be selected to first weld the inside and then the outside, reducing the possibility of the titanium felt 32 sliding relative to the electrode plate during welding, thereby reducing the impact of welding deformation on the welding quality and ensuring the stability of the welding between the titanium felt 32 and the electrode plate.

[0065] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed as above, they are not limited to the applications listed in the specification and the implementation modes. They can be fully applied to various fields suitable for the present invention. For those familiar with the art, additional modifications can be easily implemented. Therefore, without departing from the general concept defined by the claims and the scope of equivalents, the present invention is not limited to the specific details and the embodiments shown and described herein.

Claims

1. A PEM electrolyzer structure, comprising an upper end plate and a lower end plate, characterized in that: A plurality of electrode plate assemblies are stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate, a membrane electrode assembly is arranged between two adjacent groups of the electrode plate assemblies, the electrode plate assembly comprises an electrode plate, titanium felt and carbon, frame-type sealing gaskets are connected on both sides of the electrode plate, the titanium felt and carbon are respectively connected to both sides of the electrode plate and are both located in the sealing gasket, the membrane electrode assembly comprises a proton exchange membrane and an electrode frame, and the electrode frame is connected on both sides of the proton exchange membrane.

2. A PEM electrolyzer structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The titanium felt and the electrode plate are fixed by welding.

3. A PEM electrolyzer structure as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The titanium felt and the electrode plate are welded by side welding, spot welding or a combination of the two.

4. A PEM electrolyzer structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The carbon material and the electrode plate are fixed by bonding.

5. A PEM electrolyzer structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The sealing gasket and the electrode plate are fixed by bonding.

6. A method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1. Making the plate assembly: Connect frame-shaped sealing gaskets on both sides of the electrode plate, fix the titanium felt and carbon on both sides of the electrode plate, and the titanium felt and carbon are both located in the corresponding sealing gaskets; S2. Making membrane electrode assembly: Pole frames are respectively arranged on both sides of the proton exchange membrane; S3. Connection of PEM electrolyzer structure: A plurality of groups of the electrode plate assemblies are stacked between the upper end plate and the lower end plate, and a membrane electrode assembly is arranged between two adjacent groups of the electrode plate assemblies.

7. The method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the titanium felt and the carbon are fixed to the electrode plate respectively in S1, the relative positions between the electrode plate and the titanium felt and the carbon are ensured by visual positioning.

8. The method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure according to claim 6, characterized in that: The titanium felt and the electrode plate are welded by side welding, spot welding or a combination of the two.

9. The method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure according to claim 8, characterized in that: When the titanium felt is connected to the electrode plate by spot welding, a plurality of welding points are distributed in a rectangular array.

10. The method for manufacturing a PEM electrolyzer structure according to claim 9, characterized in that: When the titanium felt and the pole plate are connected by spot welding, welding starts from the welding point located in the middle, and the welding track of the welding point is spiral from inside to outside.

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