CN113036203B

CN113036203B - Integrated manifold for fuel cell, fuel cell and vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN113036203B
Application number: CN201911349582.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郝禹铭; 原强
Original assignee: Weishi Energy Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Weishi Energy Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-12-24
Filing date: 2019-12-24
Publication date: 2022-11-25
Anticipated expiration: 2039-12-24
Also published as: CN113036203A

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an integrated manifold for a fuel cell, comprising: an integrated manifold for a fuel cell, comprising: the first part is provided with two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels; the second part is provided with two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels; a plurality of components disposed on the first and second portions of the integrated manifold. The integrated manifold can integrate a plurality of parts, saves the space of the fuel cell, can also monitor the temperature and the pressure of each flow field, and improves the efficiency of the fuel cell.

Description

Integrated manifold for fuel cell, fuel cell and vehicle

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of fuel cells, and in particular to integrated manifolds, fuel cells and vehicles for fuel cells.

Background

A fuel cell is a chemical device that can directly convert chemical energy of fuel into electric energy, and is also called an electrochemical generator. Fuel cells use fuel (e.g., hydrogen) and oxygen as raw materials, and have no mechanical transmission parts, so that they do not cause pollution and emit very little harmful gas. It follows that fuel cells are one of the most promising power generation technologies from the viewpoint of energy saving and ecological environment protection.

In the fuel cell, the number of inlets and outlets of the reactor is large, the distance is small, and direct connection pipelines cannot be realized, so that a transition device needs to be additionally arranged, and parts need to be integrated due to the large number of sensors needing to be assembled.

The above information disclosed in this background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides an integrated manifold for a fuel cell, which can meet the requirement of simultaneously assembling a plurality of sensors and components. The space of the fuel cell is saved, and the gas circulation efficiency of the fuel cell is improved.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the integrated manifold for a fuel cell includes: a first part: two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels are arranged; a second part: two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels are arranged; a plurality of components.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, the first portion comprises: the two cooling channels are integrated into a cooling outlet.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, the first portion comprises: the two cooling channels are integrated into a cooling inlet, and the two cooling channels are integrated into a hydrogen outlet.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, further comprising: two exhaust runners.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the integrated manifold is made of PVDF material.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, a method of processing includes: any one of machining integral molding, injection molding integral molding or 3D printing integral molding.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of component parts includes: and at least one or all of a steam-water separator, an ejector, a circulating pump, a pressure release valve, a nitrogen discharge valve and a sensor are arranged at the bottom of the integrated manifold.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, the sensor comprises: ten sensors, ten sensor wire position holes.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a fuel cell including the integrated manifold as described in any one of the above.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a vehicle including the fuel cell as described above.

The application of the scheme of each embodiment of the disclosure can integrate a plurality of runner pipelines and a plurality of parts on the inlet and outlet positions of the electric pile. The integrated manifold meets the functional requirements of fuel cells on the need of additionally arranging transition devices, assembling sensors and the like. Because the PVDF material is selected for the fuel cell, the problem of ion precipitation is prevented, and the tightness of the fuel cell pipeline is optimized. The integrated manifold provided by the present disclosure has the advantages of small space, small required pressure loss, large number of integrated parts, and excellent performance on temperature, pressure, conductivity, corrosion resistance, etc., and improves the efficiency of a gas system in a fuel cell while solving the problems of limited space of the fuel cell, etc.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure and are not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings:

figure 1 is a front view of a first portion of a fuel cell stack integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a left and right side view of an integrated manifold first portion according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a dimensional view of a first portion of an integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a second portion of an integrated manifold of a fuel cell stack according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a left and right side view of a second portion of an integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a dimensional view of a second portion of an integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a positional relationship of various components in a first portion of an integrated manifold according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a positional relationship of various components in the second portion of the integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

List of reference numerals:

101. air outlet

103. Hydrogen inlet

105. Cooling outlet

201. Hydrogen inlet

203. Pressure relief valve interface

205. Air outlet

207. Circulating pump connecting seat

209. Cooling outlet

401. Hydrogen outlet

403. Cooling inlet

405. Air inlet

501. Air branch mouth

503. Hydrogen pipeline interface

505. Air inlet

507. Cooling inlet

509. Air steam-water separator

701. Air temperature and pressure sensor

702. Hydrogen temperature sensor interface

703. Cooled temperature sensor interface

704. Cooling pressure sensor interface

805. Interface of hydrogen gas steam inlet separator

806. Cooling temperature sensor

807. Cooling pressure sensor

808. Hydrogen gas temperature sensor

809. Hydrogen pressure sensor

810. Air temperature and pressure sensor

Detailed Description

In the following, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art can appreciate, the described embodiments can be modified in various different ways, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "straight", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, merely for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

Throughout the description of the present disclosure, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection, either mechanically, electrically, or otherwise in communication with one another; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In the present disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise the first and second features being in direct contact, or may comprise the first and second features being in contact, not directly, but via another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser level than the second feature.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of the disclosure. To simplify the disclosure of the present disclosure, specific example components and arrangements are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Moreover, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or reference letters in the various examples, which have been repeated for purposes of simplicity and clarity and do not in themselves dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present disclosure provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or use of other materials.

In general, the number of components in a fuel cell system is very large, and the space of the fuel cell is limited, and a hydrogen gas supply system, an air supply system, a cooling supply system, a hydrogen gas circulation pump, and many air valves are provided. In addition, it is necessary to provide components related to an air temperature/pressure sensor, a hydrogen temperature/pressure sensor, a cooling temperature/pressure sensor, and the like. At present, the systems and parts are connected through pipelines, the utilization rate of the space is low, and the pipeline system is easy to leak or generate defects.

In view of the foregoing background and existing counting disadvantages, the present disclosure provides an integrated manifold for a fuel cell. The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are merely for purposes of illustrating and explaining the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a first portion of an integrated manifold of a fuel cell stack according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure

Referring to fig. 1, an integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure includes a hydrogen flow channel, an air flow channel, and a cooling flow channel, two each. As shown in the formal diagram of the integrated manifold of fig. 1, there are shown an air outlet 101 into which two air flow passages are integrated, a hydrogen outlet 103 into which two hydrogen flow passages are integrated, and a cooling outlet 105 into which two cooling flow passages are integrated. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the integrated manifold further integrates two exhaust runners (not shown) for exhausting exhaust gas to ensure safety of the air pressure in the integrated circuit.

As shown in fig. 1, the material of the integrated manifold is a PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) polymeric material, according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the integrated manifold is integrally formed by machining.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, in selecting the material of the integrated manifold, in consideration of how to avoid the occurrence of the ion elution problem, through some experimental tests, PVDF material is adopted as the material of the integrated manifold in the preferred exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The polyvinylidene fluoride refers to a vinylidene fluoride homopolymer or a copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and other small amount of fluorine-containing vinyl monomers, has the common and well-known characteristics of fluororesin and has the special performances of piezoelectric property, dielectric property, thermoelectric property and the like besides good chemical corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, weather resistance and ray radiation resistance. The above properties of PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) effectively avoid the problem of ion extraction. In addition, the PVDF material also has the advantages of light weight, simple and convenient processing technology, good sealing condition and the like. It should be noted that, the PVDF integrated manifold in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may also be produced by processing manners such as injection molding and 3D printing.

Fig. 2 is a left and right side view of an integrated manifold first portion according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 2, in the first part of the integrated manifold of the fuel cell stack, a hydrogen inlet 201 of a hydrogen flow channel, a relief valve interface 203, an air outlet 205 of an air flow channel, a circulation pump connection base 207, and a cooling outlet 209 are provided in the disclosed embodiment. In the present embodiment, an exhaust gas flow passage is also provided in the hydrogen flow passage. In this embodiment, in combination with the second portion of the integrated manifold, the integrated manifold may be provided with fourteen flow channels.

As shown in fig. 2, the relief valve interface 203 is the connection of the relief valve in the hydrogen flow channel. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the cooling channels are also provided with exhaust channels, leaving exhaust valve connections (not shown) on the integrated manifold. In addition, the hydrogen flow channel further includes a hydrogen circulation flow channel for recycling the hydrogen, as shown in fig. 2, the circulation pump is connected to a part of the hydrogen circulation flow channel of the connection base 207. In addition, the hydrogen flow passage also comprises at least one or all of a steam-water separator, an ejector, a circulating pump, a pressure release valve and a nitrogen discharge valve, and the types and the number of the parts of the hydrogen flow passage are limited according to different fuel cells, the power and the application range thereof.

Fig. 3 is a dimensional view of an integrated manifold first portion according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 3, in an example embodiment of the present disclosure, the integrated manifold on one side of the fuel cell is 254 mm in length, 218.86 mm in height, and 100 mm in width. Compared with the disordered pipeline arrangement on one side of the fuel cell stack without the integrated manifold and the complex arrangement relationship of all parts in the prior art, the space layout is optimized, all flow channels are isolated from each other, and the parts are effectively installed. Due to the fact that the complexity and the length of the pipeline are shortened, the integrated manifold provided by the disclosure is arranged, and the possibility of gas/liquid leakage of each flow channel in the working process is reduced to a certain extent.

Fig. 4 is a front view of a second portion of an integrated manifold of a fuel cell stack according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 4, in an integrated manifold second step portion of a fuel cell stack according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, includes: two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels, and two cooling flow channels, so the integrated manifold second portion provided may include six flow channels, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 4, the integrated manifold front view shows two hydrogen flow channels integrated into one hydrogen outlet 401, two cooling flow channels integrated into one cooling inlet 403, and two air flow channels integrated into one air inlet 405.

Fig. 5 is a left and right side view of an integrated manifold second portion according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 5, the integrated manifold is further provided with an air branch 501, a hydrogen plumbing interface 503, an air inlet 505, a cooling inlet 507, an air trap 509, according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. Included in the air flow passages are steam separators 509 disposed at the bottom of the integrated manifold. After the gas in the air flow channel is separated from the water by the steam-water separator, the gas is directly discharged out of the integrated manifold through a drainage system below the integrated manifold.

Fig. 6 is a dimensional view of an integrated manifold second portion according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

As can be seen in fig. 6, the integrated manifold on the other side of the fuel cell stack has a length of 280 mm, a height of 180.95 mm, and a width of 98.71 mm. The integrated manifold with the size collects and integrates a plurality of parts, so that the use space of the fuel cell is saved, and the efficiency of the fuel cell is improved.

In the working process of the fuel cell, raw material gas, a cooling device and the like need to be monitored and detected in real time, and then the reaction in the fuel cell stack is in a stable, controllable and efficient state through system control and regulation.

FIG. 7 is a positional relationship diagram of various components in the first portion of the integrated manifold according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 7, in the present embodiment, an air temperature and pressure sensor 701 is used to detect the temperature and pressure values of the air flow field. In some embodiments, the reaction rate in the fuel cell stack and whether the fuel cell is in a safe state can be determined by the measured air temperature pressure value, so that the system can be adjusted accordingly to improve the efficiency of the fuel cell. Similarly, in the present embodiment, a hydrogen gas temperature sensor interface 702, a cooling temperature sensor interface 703, and a cooling pressure sensor interface 704 are also provided. The interfaces are preset to prepare for installing each flow field sensor. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, similar to the above-mentioned sensors, more than ten sensors may be provided, and a sensor limiting hole for conveniently setting the sensors is configured, and the number of the sensors may be more than ten.

As shown in fig. 8, with respect to the integrated manifold on the fuel cell side in fig. 7, in the present embodiment, some components such as a sensor are mounted on the integrated manifold.

Referring to the integrated manifold shown in fig. 8, there are provided a cooling temperature sensor 806, a cooling pressure sensor 807, a hydrogen temperature sensor 808, a hydrogen pressure sensor 809, and an air temperature pressure sensor 810. In the embodiment, the sensors are in direct contact with gas in the flow field through national standard interfaces, so that the function of monitoring gas/liquid in the flow field is achieved.

In addition, as shown in fig. 8, according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, the integrated manifold is further provided with an intake steam-water separator interface for hydrogen. It can be seen that in some embodiments, the components in the hydrogen flow channels can all fit into the integrated manifold provided by the present disclosure.

In addition, each interface is provided with a national standard sealing structure, such as a rubber ring, a gasket, a sealing sheet and the like, so that the tightness of the installation of the parts is ensured.

The integrated manifold of the present disclosure is most useful for a fuel cell, which is most often a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell.

At present, the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell is mostly used for new energy automobiles of electric automobiles.

The integrated manifold provided by the present disclosure integrates the core components in many fuel cell circuits. Because the whole fuel cell system needs to be installed in some vehicles, such as a new fuel cell energy automobile, the required space volume is as small as possible, and the loss is also as small as possible. The integrated manifold in the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure integrates a large number of components to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, while monitoring both the temperature and pressure of the gas/liquid in each flow field. In addition, because the integrated manifold material provided by the disclosure adopts PVDF material, the integrated manifold material has excellent chemical and physical properties, and the tightness and durability of the integrated manifold are ensured, so that the safety of the fuel cell pipeline is improved.

The above description is meant to be illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and not to be taken as limiting the disclosure, as the invention is intended to cover any and all modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. that fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Finally, it should be noted that: although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiments and/or equivalents thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An integrated manifold for a fuel cell, comprising:

the first part is provided with two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels;

an air outlet integrated with the two air flow channels of the first portion, a hydrogen inlet integrated with the two hydrogen flow channels, and a cooling outlet integrated with the two cooling flow channels;

the second part is provided with two air flow channels, two hydrogen flow channels and two cooling flow channels;

an air inlet integrated with the two air flow channels, a hydrogen outlet integrated with the two hydrogen flow channels, and a cooling inlet integrated with the two cooling flow channels of the second portion; the hydrogen flow channels of the first part and the second part comprise hydrogen circulating flow channels;

a plurality of components disposed on the first and second portions of the integrated manifold; the plurality of component parts includes: at least one of a steam-water separator, an ejector, a circulating pump, a pressure release valve, a nitrogen discharge valve and a sensor which are arranged at the bottom of the integrated manifold, wherein the circulating pump is arranged in the hydrogen circulating flow channel.

2. The integrated manifold of claim 1, comprising: two exhaust runners.

3. The integrated manifold of claim 1, wherein the integrated manifold is made of PVDF material.

4. The integrated manifold of claim 1, wherein the machining process comprises: any one of machining integrated molding, injection molding integrated molding or 3D printing integrated molding.

5. The integrated manifold of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises: ten sensors, ten sensor wire position holes.

6. A fuel cell comprising an integrated manifold according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A vehicle comprising the fuel cell of claim 6.