Fuel Cell Stack Insulating Collar Self-Adjusting Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fuel cell stacks face challenges in maintaining effective sealing and positional adjustment during assembly, leading to inefficiencies in gas and cooling medium flow, which can result in reduced power generation and increased complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
The fuel cell stack incorporates an insulating collar member with a tubular portion and flange portion that slides into manifold holes, utilizing an outer circumferential surface sealing member to ensure self-adjustment and consistent sealing, even with positional variations, allowing for a single collar design to fit various thicknesses and simplifying the assembly process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid sealing structure is used to ensure effective sealing, then sealing reliability is improved, but assembly complexity and cost increase due to requiring multiple collar designs for different thicknesses
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating collar member is designed with a flexible insulating material that allows elastic deformation. This dynamic flexibility enables the collar to adapt to positional variations and thickness differences automatically, eliminating the need for multiple rigid collar designs while maintaining reliable sealing contact with the outer circumferential surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state of the insulating collar from rigid to flexible by using elastic insulating material. This parameter change allows the collar to deform and conform to varying positions and thicknesses, providing universal compatibility across different fuel cell stack configurations without requiring multiple specialized designs.
2Manufacturing precision
If precise positional alignment is required during assembly, then sealing accuracy is improved, but assembly time and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible insulating collar member performs self-alignment and self-adjustment during assembly. As the collar is installed, it automatically deforms to match the actual position and thickness of the fuel cell stack, eliminating the need for precise pre-alignment or complex positioning procedures. This self-service capability maintains high sealing accuracy while significantly reducing assembly time.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic flexibility of the insulating collar enables real-time adaptation during assembly. The collar dynamically adjusts its shape and position to accommodate variations in stack thickness and alignment, achieving accurate sealing contact without requiring meticulous manual positioning or multiple adjustment steps.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple collar designs are used to accommodate different thicknesses, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible insulating collar member is designed as a universal component that can accommodate multiple thickness variations and positional configurations. The elastic material allows a single collar design to perform the function of what would traditionally require multiple specialized collars, simplifying inventory management and reducing overall device complexity while maintaining broad adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the material property from rigid to flexible, the invention enables a single collar design to span a range of thickness accommodations. The elastic deformation capability allows the collar to adapt its effective dimensions dynamically, replacing the need for multiple fixed-dimension collar variants.
Data Source
AI summary
A fuel cell stack includes a stacked body, a first terminal plate, a first insulating plate, a first end plate, and a first insulating collar member. The first insulating collar member includes a first tubular portion and a first flange portion. The first tubular portion is provided in the first fluid manifold hole. The first flange portion is disposed at one end of the first tubular portion. Another end of the first tubular portion projects to an outside of the first fluid manifold hole and is in slidably contact with an inner circumferential surface of the first outer manifold member via an outer circumferential surface sealing member. The first flange portion is in contact with the first insulating plate via an end-face sealing member.