Fuel cell stacking tool
By using guide wheels, air expansion shafts and guide positioning devices to constrain the pole plates during the fuel cell stacking process, the problem of uneven outer edges of the pole plates is solved, the neatness and performance of the pole stack are improved, and the equipment accuracy requirements are reduced.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202421096323.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-05-20
- Publication Date
- 2025-03-14
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-05-20
AI Technical Summary
During the stacking process of fuel cells, the outer edges of the plate are prone to uneven, which affects the performance, life and aesthetics of the stack.
The two-side guide wheel or air-swelling shaft are used, and the pole plate is positioned through the fuel cell end plate. The guide rod and the guide positioning device are used to define the sides of the stack body to ensure that the pole plates are correctly aligned and fixed.
It effectively improves the neatness of the stack, improves performance and life, and reduces the requirements for stacking equipment accuracy, and is suitable for products of different stack lengths and sizes.
Smart Images

Figure CN222619786U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to a fuel cell, in particular to a fuel cell stacking tool. Background Art
[0002] Fuel cells are made of dozens or even hundreds of bipolar plates and membrane electrodes stacked together, and then a certain amount of pressure is applied to fix them. The bipolar plate is composed of two plates with dense bosses and grooves. In order to ensure the good life and performance of the stack, the bosses and ridges of the two adjacent plates must correspond to each other during the stacking process to avoid shear stress on the membrane. A good contact area can effectively reduce the contact resistance of the stack.
[0003] The existing stacking technology generally adopts a vertical stacking method or a vertical stacking method. These two methods can also maintain the alignment of the plates during the stacking process of the plates and the membrane electrode. However, during the pressing process, due to the rubber strips, GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer, gas diffusion layer) and other reasons, the vertical force will be decomposed, resulting in misalignment between the plates. At present, the stacking generally uses positioning rods for positioning on all sides. The positioning rods are fixed to the stacking press table. The positioning rods constrain the XY axis of the plate (when facing the product, the left and right movement and the front and back movement are called the XY axis, and the up and down movement is the Z axis) to achieve the effect of neat appearance of the battery stack. With the increase of the power and number of plates of the battery stack, and affected by many factors such as the flatness of the end face of the positioning rod, the straightness of the positioning rod, and the flatness of the press table, the positioning rod far away from the press table will appear in a trumpet shape, resulting in the inability to effectively constrain components such as bipolar plates, thereby affecting the stacking effect. Utility Model Content
[0004] The utility model provides a fuel cell stacking tool, which uses guide wheels or air expansion shafts on both sides and fuel cell end plates to constrain the position of fuel cell plates, thereby solving the problem of uneven outer edges of fuel cell plates during fuel cell stacking, thereby affecting the performance, life and appearance of the fuel cell stack. The technical solution is as follows:
[0005] A fuel cell stack assembly tool comprises a metal upper end plate, a metal lower end plate, a guide rod and a guide positioning device. The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are arranged up and down, and a fuel cell stack body is placed between the two. The side surface of the metal lower end plate is fixedly connected to the lower end of the guide rod, and the guide positioning device is fixed to the side surface of the metal upper end plate. The upper end of the guide rod passes through the guide positioning device. When the metal upper end plate drives the guide positioning device to move downward, the guide rod limits the side surface of the fuel cell stack body through the guide positioning device.
[0006] The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are both rectangular, and the metal lower end plate has four side surfaces, each of which is used to fix at least one guide rod, and each guide rod corresponds to a guide positioning device.
[0007] The guiding and positioning device includes a positioning seat, a shaft and a bearing. An opening is provided in the middle of the positioning seat, and both ends of the opening extend to both sides. The two ends are fixedly mounted on the side surfaces of the metal upper end plate by connecting bolts. A shaft is installed inside the opening of the positioning seat, and a bearing is installed on the shaft. The bearing can roll up and down along the outer side of the guide rod.
[0008] The inner side of the guide rod close to the battery stack body is arc-shaped, and the outer side in contact with the bearing is flat.
[0009] When four guide rods are provided, a fixing screw hole is provided in the middle of each side surface of the metal lower end plate.
[0010] The side of the metal lower end plate is provided with a fixing screw hole, and the lower end of the guide rod is provided with a through hole. The fixing bolt passes through the through hole and enters the fixing screw hole to fix the lower end of the guide rod to the side of the metal lower end plate.
[0011] The section of height where the guide rod contacts the metal lower end plate has a rectangular cross section.
[0012] The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are both rectangular in shape, and have the same or different thicknesses.
[0013] An air expansion shaft is also provided, one end of which is fixed to the hole of the battery stack, and the air expansion shaft is extended into the main manifold of the battery stack body, and the length of the air expansion shaft is consistent with the length of the battery stack body.
[0014] The fuel cell stacking tooling has the following advantages: (1) it can effectively improve the neatness, performance and life of the fuel cell stack; (2) it reduces the parallelism requirements between the stacking press table and the guide rods, thereby reducing the precision requirements for the equipment; and (3) it has strong versatility and can be applied to products with different fuel cell stack lengths and sizes. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of the fuel cell stacking tooling;
[0016] Figure 2 is a detailed enlarged view of the fuel cell stacking tooling;
[0017] Figure 3 is a top view schematic diagram of the fuel cell stacking tooling;
[0018] The names of the components in the figure are as follows:
[0019] 1 - Metal upper end plate; 2 - Metal lower end plate; 3 - Stack body; 4 - Guide rod; 5 - Positioning seat; 6 - Shaft; 7 - Bearing; 8 - Connecting bolt; 9 - Fixing bolt; 10 - Stacking table surface. Specific implementation mode
[0020] As Figures 1 to 3 shown, the fuel cell stacking tooling includes a metal upper end plate 1, a metal lower end plate 2, a guide rod 4 and a guiding and positioning device. The metal upper end plate 1 and the metal lower end plate 2 are arranged up and down, and the stack body 3 is placed between them; the side surface of the metal lower end plate 2 is fixedly connected to the lower end of the guide rod 4, and a guiding and positioning device is fixed on the side surface of the metal upper end plate 1. The upper end of the guide rod 4 passes through the guiding and positioning device. When the metal upper end plate 1 drives the guiding and positioning device to move downward, the guide rod 4 limits the side surface of the stack body 3 through the guiding and positioning device, making the stack body 3 flat and preventing the plates of the stack body 3 from being misaligned.
[0021] The shapes of the metal upper end plate 1 and the metal lower end plate 2 are both rectangular. Fixing screw holes are provided on the side surface of the metal lower end plate 2, and through holes are provided at the lower end of the guide rod 4. The fixing bolt 9 passes through the through hole and then enters the fixing screw hole to fix the lower end of the guide rod 4 on the side surface of the metal lower end plate 2. The metal lower end plate 2 has four side surfaces, and at least one guide rod 4 is fixed on each side surface. When four guide rods 4 are provided, fixing screw holes are provided in the middle of each side surface of the metal lower end plate 2.
[0022] The guiding and positioning device includes a positioning seat 5, a shaft 6 and a bearing 7. The positioning seat 5 is in a "J" shape, with an opening in the middle. The two ends of the opening extend to both sides and are fixedly installed on the side surface of the metal upper end plate 1 through connecting bolts 8. The shaft 6 is installed inside the opening of the positioning seat 5, and the bearing 7 is provided on the shaft 6. The bearing 7 is in contact with the guide rod 4.
[0023] Each guide rod 4 corresponds to a guiding and positioning device. Define the side of the guide rod 4 close to the stack body 3 as the inner side. Then the inner side of the guide rod 4 is used to limit the side surface of the stack body 3, and the outer side is in contact with the bearing 7. To better achieve the limitation, the inner side of the guide rod 4 is arc-shaped, and the outer side in contact with the bearing 7 is flat. The bearing 7 can roll up and down along the outer side of the guide rod 4. In this way, the lower end of the guide rod is directly fixed and locked with the metal lower end plate 2, and the upper end is pre-pressed with the bearing of the metal upper end plate 1. The outer side of the guide rod adopts the rolling bearing method, ensuring the fit degree of the guide rod with the plate, the metal upper end plate 1 and the metal lower end plate 2, and effectively making up for the deficiency that the fuel cell performance is poor due to the uneven table surface and the poor straightness of the guide rod, resulting in the misalignment of the plates.
[0024] Furthermore, the cross section of the lower end of the guide rod 4 is rectangular, especially the height of the section in contact with the metal lower end plate 2, so as to facilitate the fixing and installation of the fixing bolts 9. The fuel cell stacking tool is placed on the stacking table 10.
[0025] When in use, first assemble the positioning seat 5, shaft 6 and bearing 7. Threaded holes are designed on the metal upper end plate 1 and the metal lower end plate 2 of the fuel cell. The bottom of the guide rod 4 is fixed to the metal lower end plate 2 by fixing bolts. The lower end of the guide rod 4 is fixed. After all the plates and membrane electrodes of the stack body 3 are placed, the guide positioning device is fixed to the metal upper end plate 1 by connecting bolts 8 to ensure that the bearing 7 generates force between the guide rod 4 and the guide rod 4 fits tightly with the plate. Start the stacking press. Since the guide positioning device is connected to the metal upper end plate 1, the metal upper end plate 1 and the guide positioning device will move downward at the same time, and the guide positioning device will continue to apply sufficient force to the guide rod 4 to ensure that the plate will not be dislocated due to the decomposition of force.
[0026] Furthermore, in a certain embodiment, a gas expansion shaft is also provided, one end of which is fixed to the stack hole (fixing hole on the stack end plate), and the gas expansion shaft is extended into the stack main manifold (the inlet and outlet holes on the stack electrode plate) of the stack body 3, and the length is generally consistent with the length of the stack body 3. By pressurizing the inside of the gas expansion shaft, it expands. After expansion, the gas expansion shaft will fill the stack main manifold to achieve the self-positioning and self-correction effect of the electrode plate, so as to achieve the effect of flattening the stack. One end of the gas expansion shaft is a floating pressurized pumping end, and the other end has a metal fixing, which needs to be fixed to the stack end plate.
[0027] The fuel cell stacking tooling has the following advantages: (1) it can effectively improve the neatness, performance and life of the fuel cell stack; (2) it reduces the parallelism requirements between the stacking press table and the guide rods, thereby reducing the precision requirements for the equipment; and (3) it has strong versatility and can be applied to products with different fuel cell stack lengths and sizes.
Claims
1. A fuel cell stacking tool, characterized in that: It includes a metal upper end plate, a metal lower end plate, a guide rod and a guide positioning device. The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are arranged up and down, and the battery stack body is placed between the two. The side surface of the metal lower end plate is fixedly connected to the lower end of the guide rod, and the guide positioning device is fixed to the side surface of the metal upper end plate. The upper end of the guide rod passes through the guide positioning device. When the metal upper end plate drives the guide positioning device to move downward, the guide rod limits the side surface of the battery stack body through the guide positioning device.
2. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are both rectangular, and the metal lower end plate has four side surfaces, each of which is used to fix at least one guide rod, and each guide rod corresponds to a guide positioning device.
3. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guiding and positioning device includes a positioning seat, a shaft and a bearing. An opening is provided in the middle of the positioning seat, and both ends of the opening extend to both sides. The two ends are fixedly mounted on the side surfaces of the metal upper end plate by connecting bolts. A shaft is installed inside the opening of the positioning seat, and a bearing is installed on the shaft. The bearing can roll up and down along the outer side of the guide rod.
4. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner side of the guide rod close to the battery stack body is arc-shaped, and the outer side in contact with the bearing is flat.
5. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 2, characterized in that: When four guide rods are provided, a fixing screw hole is provided in the middle of each side surface of the metal lower end plate.
6. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: The side of the metal lower end plate is provided with a fixing screw hole, and the lower end of the guide rod is provided with a through hole. The fixing bolt passes through the through hole and enters the fixing screw hole to fix the lower end of the guide rod to the side of the metal lower end plate.
7. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 6, characterized in that: The section of height where the guide rod contacts the metal lower end plate has a rectangular cross section.
8. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: The metal upper end plate and the metal lower end plate are both rectangular in shape, and have the same or different thicknesses.
9. The fuel cell stacking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that: An air expansion shaft is also provided, one end of which is fixed to the hole of the battery stack, and the air expansion shaft is extended into the main manifold of the battery stack body, and the length of the air expansion shaft is consistent with the length of the battery stack body.