Chip stack module based on electrochemical reactions

Abstract

This invention provides a chip stacking module based on electrochemical reactions, composed of several chip bodies, comprising a three-tiered architecture from small to large, consisting of chip bodies, stacking units, and a module integration structure. The chip bodies are equipped with fluid interfaces, electrical interfaces, mechanical interfaces, and sensors. Each stacking unit consists of multiple chip bodies, including an integrated fluid manifold and electrical busbar. The module integration structure includes a mounting frame, within which a fluid manifold, high-voltage power distribution busbar, and signal bus are integrated. This invention achieves standardized "plug-and-play" stacking, eliminating the need for customized processing, and enabling linear power expansion, significantly improving stacking flexibility and standardization. It constitutes a complete technical solution from chip bodies and stacking modules to system-level control, applicable to power expansion and intelligent operation in various scenarios such as portable power supplies, drones, vehicle-mounted power systems, distributed energy storage, and grid-connected power plants.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of electrochemical reaction technology, and more particularly to chip stacking modules based on electrochemical reactions. Background Technology

[0002] Electrochemical reactions are core chemical processes in modern industrial systems that serve both fundamental and cutting-edge purposes. They permeate key areas such as energy conversion, materials preparation, environmental protection, and high-end manufacturing. Relying on the charge transfer and phase transition laws at the electrode interface, they achieve efficient bidirectional conversion between electrical and chemical energy, supporting traditional core industrial sectors such as electrolytic hydrogen production, chlor-alkali industry, metal electrolytic smelting, and battery energy storage. They also deeply empower emerging high-end industries such as new energy, semiconductor precision machining, electrochemical deposition coating, industrial wastewater treatment, and corrosion protection. Electrochemical reactions have become the underlying scientific foundation for promoting the low-carbon upgrading of traditional industries, the creation of new materials, the large-scale utilization of clean energy, and the iteration of precision manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, they are an indispensable key technology carrier for connecting the implementation of dual-carbon goals, the green transformation of industry, and the independent development of high-end manufacturing.

[0003] In recent years, with the development of miniaturized and standardized electrochemical reaction chip technology, the power density of a single chip has been significantly improved, laying the foundation for large-scale applications. For example, Chinese invention patent CN113571723A discloses a stacking unit and a fuel cell stack for fuel cell stacks, including a first end metal electrode plate, a stacking component, and a second end metal electrode plate. The stacking component includes stacked metal bipolar plates. The thickness of the first end metal electrode plate and the second end metal electrode plate are respectively greater than the thickness of the stacked metal bipolar plates to solve the problems of stacking error accumulation and sealing performance caused by metal bipolar plate warping. Chinese invention patent CN114004168A discloses a fuel cell integrated management system and method based on digital twins, including a physical battery pack, a digital twin model, a data acquisition platform, and a fuel cell and lithium battery terminal management module, used to simulate the dynamic performance parameters of the physical fuel cell pack in real time, and remotely monitor and adjust the parameters through a human-computer interaction interface. Chinese invention patent CN120319836A discloses a micro fuel cell stacking structure, designed for low-power fuel cells in portable scenarios.

[0004] However, in the process of industrialization, the large-scale stacking of chips, including those with the aforementioned patents, still faces certain challenges. Firstly, traditional electrochemical reaction equipment stacking is designed for large-size discrete bipolar plates, leading to issues such as uneven fluid distribution, poor electrical connection reliability, and sealing failures during the stacking process, resulting in poor performance consistency after stacking. Secondly, existing stacking technologies can only achieve macroscopic control at the stack level, unable to acquire the real-time status of each chip, and thus cannot achieve precise monitoring and control at the single-chip level. Thirdly, existing stacking solutions are customized designs, unable to achieve linear scaling and standardized, modular applications. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a chip stacking module based on electrochemical reactions, which solves the problems of poor stacking effect, insufficient chip control, and difficulty in scaling up existing technologies.

[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction is composed of several chip bodies, including a three-level architecture consisting of chip bodies, stacking units and module integration structures from small to large. The chip bodies are provided with fluid interfaces, electrical interfaces, mechanical interfaces and sensors.

[0007] The stacking unit is composed of multiple chip bodies, which are tightly stacked through mechanical interfaces. Insulating sealing gaskets and electrode plates are respectively provided on both end faces to form an integrated structure. The stacking unit also includes an integrated fluid manifold disposed between the electrode plates and the chip bodies. The fluid manifold is connected to the chip bodies one by one through fluid interfaces. An electrical busbar is also provided on the inner side of the electrode plate. The electrical busbar is connected to the electrical interfaces of the chip bodies one by one to form a series structure.

[0008] The module integration structure includes an installation frame with installation rails inside. Multiple stacked units are hot-swappably installed inside the installation frame via the installation rails. The installation frame integrates a fluid manifold, a high-voltage power distribution busbar, and a signal bus. The installation frame also includes a thermal management module, a control module, and a safety protection module.

[0009] Furthermore, the fluid manifold has a topology with a constant cross-section at the inlet for diversion and a variable cross-section at the outlet for confluence, and is equipped with trapezoidal guide vanes inside.

[0010] Furthermore, the fluid manifold is also provided with flow dividers that correspond one-to-one with the fluid interfaces of the chip body, and the diameter of the flow dividers increases linearly along the fluid flow direction.

[0011] Furthermore, the electrical busbar is provided with dual redundant elastic contacts corresponding to the chip body, forming dual-point contact with the electrical interfaces on both sides of the chip.

[0012] Furthermore, the stacking unit also includes a signal acquisition backplane that is configured to work with the electrode plates. The signal acquisition backplane is connected to the sensors on the chip body to achieve synchronous acquisition of temperature, voltage, and humidity signals of the chip body.

[0013] Furthermore, the mechanical interface consists of positioning guide posts located at the four corners of the chip body. A disc spring assembly is provided between the electrode plate and the positioning guide post to press and fix the chip body. PTFE sealing frames are provided between adjacent chip bodies and between the chip body and the electrode plate to achieve sealing.

[0014] Furthermore, the thermal management module includes an integrated coolant circulation channel located at the bottom of the mounting frame. The coolant circulation channel is connected to the fluid manifold and has a built-in electronic expansion valve and temperature sensor, which can realize dynamic control of the module's coolant flow rate and temperature. It also integrates a hydrogen pressure regulator, an air filter, and a drain solenoid valve to achieve integrated control of the fluid system.

[0015] Furthermore, the control module includes a controller, which collects real-time operating data of all chip bodies through a signal bus and realizes real-time control of electrochemical reactions through built-in algorithms.

[0016] Furthermore, the safety protection module includes a gas sensor, a liquid sensor, an insulation monitoring module, a high-voltage fuse, and a fast DC contactor, thereby monitoring gas and liquid leaks, insulation failures, overcurrent, short circuits, and other problems in real time, and enabling rapid disconnection in case of a fault; it also includes an explosion-proof pressure relief valve installed on the top of the mounting frame.

[0017] Furthermore, the module integration structure can be further connected in series / parallel to form a system-level expansion structure in conjunction with the fluid main system, high-voltage power distribution system, and cloud management platform.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] 1. This invention achieves standardized "plug-and-play" stacking, where the fluid, electrical, and mechanical interfaces of the chip body directly interface with the fluid manifold and electrical busbars. Fluid, electrical, and signal connections are automatically completed during stacking, eliminating the need for customized processing and enabling linear power expansion. This significantly improves stacking flexibility and standardization. It constitutes a complete technical solution from chip body and stacking modules to system-level control, applicable to power expansion and intelligent operation in various scenarios such as portable power supplies, drones, vehicle power, distributed energy storage, and grid-scale power plants.

[0020] 2. It avoids problems such as uneven fluid distribution, poor electrical connection reliability, and seal failure, ensuring consistent performance after stacking. Through an adaptive flow-equalizing fluid manifold, the standard deviation of flow distribution per chip is achieved to be <3%; through redundant electrical busbars, the contact resistance of a single chip is achieved to be <1mΩ; the overall power deviation of the stack is <3%, and the lifespan is <10% lower than that of a single chip, which is far superior to existing technologies.

[0021] 3. This invention collects sensor data from the monitoring chip itself via a controller, enabling independent water and thermal management, degradation diagnosis, and lifespan prediction of the chip. Through degradation equalization control, the expected lifespan of the entire stack is increased from 3500 hours to over 5000 hours. A three-level hierarchical structure achieves a fatal fault response time of <10ms. Simultaneously, bypass fault-tolerant control ensures uninterrupted operation even in the event of a single chip failure, reducing unplanned downtime by 80% and significantly improving system safety and operational continuity. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a three-level stacked architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0023] The technical solutions of the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0024] like Figure 1 As shown in the figure, this embodiment of the invention proposes a chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction, which consists of several chip bodies, including a three-level architecture from small to large consisting of chip bodies, stacking units and module integration structures. The chip bodies are provided with fluid interfaces, electrical interfaces, mechanical interfaces and sensors.

[0025] The stacking unit consists of multiple chip bodies, which are tightly stacked through mechanical interfaces. Insulating sealing gaskets and electrode plates are respectively provided on both end faces to form an integrated structure. The stacking unit also includes an integrated fluid manifold disposed between the electrode plates and the chip bodies. The fluid manifold is connected to the chip bodies one by one through fluid interfaces. An electrical busbar is also provided on the inner side of the electrode plate. The electrical busbar is connected to the electrical interfaces of the chip bodies one by one to form a series structure.

[0026] The mechanical interface consists of high-precision positioning guide posts at the four corners of the chip body, with a positioning accuracy of ±5μm, ensuring chip stacking alignment accuracy of ±20μm. A disc spring assembly is installed between the electrode plate and the positioning guide posts, with a preload adjustment range of 0.5-1.5MPa. The preload is monitored in real-time by a pressure sensor to ensure preload uniformity >95%. Standardized PTFE sealing frames are installed between chips and between chips and the end plate, using O-rings to achieve secondary sealing. The overall helium leak detection rate after stacking is <1×10⁻⁶. -6 Pa·m3 / s, fully compliant with fuel cell sealing standards.

[0027] Specifically, the fluid manifold features a topology with a constant cross-section inlet for flow branching and a variable cross-section outlet for flow convergence, and is internally equipped with trapezoidal guide vanes. The flow resistance distribution within the fluid manifold is optimized through CFD simulation. The fluid manifold also includes flow branching orifices that correspond one-to-one with the fluid interfaces on the chip body, with the orifice diameter increasing linearly along the fluid flow direction. For basic portable self-breathing scenarios, a natural air-cooling design is employed, with three independent channels for hydrogen, air, and drainage. For high-power expansion scenarios, a coolant manifold can be added to achieve liquid cooling.

[0028] The electrical busbar is an integrated gold-plated copper busbar, with dual redundant silver-graphite elastic contacts corresponding to the chip body, forming dual-point contact with the electrical interfaces on both sides of the chip, with a single contact resistance of <1mΩ. The electrical busbar adopts a layered design, completely isolating the power circuit and the signal circuit to avoid electromagnetic interference; the positive and negative terminals of the chip body are automatically connected in series through the busbar, eliminating the need for additional soldering during stacking and achieving automated electrical connection.

[0029] The stacking unit also includes a signal acquisition backplane configured to work with the electrode plates. This backplane is connected to the sensors on each chip body, enabling synchronous acquisition of temperature, voltage, and humidity signals from the chip body. The signal acquisition backplane uses a daisy-chain topology, with each chip body corresponding to one isolated ADC acquisition channel, 16-bit sampling accuracy, and a sampling frequency of 1kHz. Data is transmitted to the edge controller via an isolated RS485 bus, achieving synchronous acquisition of temperature, voltage, and humidity signals from all chips bodies with a transmission delay of <1ms and an acquisition accuracy of ±0.5%.

[0030] The modular integrated structure includes an installation frame with installation rails inside. Multiple stacked units are hot-swappably installed inside the installation frame via the installation rails. The installation frame integrates a fluid manifold, a high-voltage power distribution busbar, and a signal bus. The installation frame also includes a thermal management module, a control module, and a safety protection module.

[0031] Furthermore, the thermal management module includes an integrated coolant circulation channel located at the bottom of the mounting frame. This coolant circulation channel is connected to the fluid manifold and incorporates an electronic expansion valve and a temperature sensor, enabling dynamic control of the module's coolant flow rate and temperature. It also integrates a hydrogen pressure regulator, an air filter, and a drain solenoid valve, achieving integrated management of the fluid system. For basic portable applications, a natural air-cooling design is used, without a coolant circulation channel.

[0032] The control module includes a controller that collects real-time operating data from all chips via a signal bus and uses built-in algorithms to achieve real-time control of the electrochemical reaction. Specifically, it features an edge AI controller with an integrated NPU, employing an ARM Cortex-A76 core and an 8-TOPS NPU to run the core AI control algorithm. All AI models undergo lightweight processing using quantization and pruning, quantizing 32-bit floating-point models into 8-bit integer models, reducing model size by more than 75%, and achieving a single-step inference time of <50ms. This allows for real-time operation within the edge AI controller, fully meeting the real-time control requirements of the fuel cell system. The controller collects real-time operating data from all chips via a signal bus and controls the fluid actuators and power distribution unit via a CAN bus, achieving module-level real-time control.

[0033] The safety protection module includes a gas sensor, a liquid sensor, an insulation monitoring module, a high-voltage fuse, and a fast DC contactor, which can monitor gas and liquid leaks, insulation failures, overcurrent, short circuits, and other problems in real time, and quickly cut off the circuit when a fault occurs; it also includes an explosion-proof pressure relief valve installed on the top of the mounting frame.

[0034] In addition, the module integration structure of the present invention can be further connected in series / parallel to form a system-level expansion structure in conjunction with the fluid main system, high-voltage power distribution system, and cloud management platform.

[0035] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and all such modifications or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A chip stack module based on electrochemical reaction, consisting of several chip bodies, characterized in that: The system comprises a three-tier architecture, from small to large, consisting of a chip body, stacked units, and a module integration structure. The chip body is equipped with a fluid interface, an electrical interface, a mechanical interface, and sensors. The stacking unit is composed of multiple chip bodies, which are tightly stacked through mechanical interfaces. Insulating sealing gaskets and electrode plates are respectively provided on both end faces to form an integrated structure. The stacking unit also includes an integrated fluid manifold disposed between the electrode plates and the chip bodies. The fluid manifold is connected to the chip bodies one by one through fluid interfaces. An electrical busbar is also provided on the inner side of the electrode plate. The electrical busbar is connected to the electrical interfaces of the chip bodies one by one to form a series structure. The module integration structure includes an installation frame with installation rails inside. Multiple stacked units are hot-swappably installed inside the installation frame via the installation rails. The installation frame integrates a fluid manifold, a high-voltage power distribution busbar, and a signal bus. The installation frame also includes a thermal management module, a control module, and a safety protection module.

2. The chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The fluid manifold has a topology of constant cross-section at the inlet and variable cross-section at the outlet, and is equipped with trapezoidal guide vanes inside.

3. The chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 2, characterized in that: The fluid manifold is also provided with flow dividers that correspond one-to-one with the fluid interfaces of the chip body, and the diameter of the flow dividers increases linearly along the fluid flow direction.

4. The chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The electrical busbar is provided with dual redundant elastic contacts corresponding to the chip body, forming dual-point contact with the electrical interfaces on both sides of the chip.

5. A chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The stacking unit also includes a signal acquisition backplane that is configured to work with the electrode plates. The signal acquisition backplane is connected to the sensors of the chip body to achieve synchronous acquisition of temperature, voltage and humidity signals of the chip body.

6. The chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The mechanical interface consists of positioning guide posts located at the four corners of the chip body. A disc spring assembly is provided between the electrode plate and the positioning guide post to press and fix the chip body. PTFE sealing frames are provided between adjacent chip bodies and between the chip body and the electrode plate to achieve sealing.

7. A chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The thermal management module includes an integrated coolant circulation channel located at the bottom of the mounting frame. The coolant circulation channel is connected to the fluid manifold and has a built-in electronic expansion valve and temperature sensor, which can realize dynamic control of the module's coolant flow rate and temperature. It also integrates a hydrogen pressure regulator, an air filter, and a drain solenoid valve to achieve integrated control of the fluid system.

8. A chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The control module includes a controller, which collects real-time operating data from all chip bodies via a signal bus and uses a built-in algorithm to achieve real-time control of the electrochemical reaction.

9. A chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The safety protection module includes a gas sensor, a liquid sensor, an insulation monitoring module, a high-voltage fuse, and a fast DC contactor, thereby monitoring gas and liquid leaks, insulation failures, overcurrent, short circuits, and other problems in real time, and enabling rapid disconnection in case of a fault; it also includes an explosion-proof pressure relief valve installed on the top of the mounting frame.

10. A chip stacking module based on electrochemical reaction as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The module integration structure can be further connected in series / parallel to form a system-level expansion structure in conjunction with the fluid main system, high-voltage power distribution system, and cloud management platform.

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