Modular fuel cell assembly
First Claim
1. A modular fuel cell assembly comprisingn fuel cells, where n is a positive integer having a value of at least 2, each of said cells including a first electrode arrangement and a second electrode arrangement separated by and in contact with a solid-electrolyte body, wherein said first electrode arrangement is permeable to a fuel and an oxidizer, wherein said second electrode arrangement is impermeable to the fuel and the oxidizer, and wherein the solid-electrolyte body consists essentially of an electronically insulating material that is also ionically conducting to at least a first ionic species and which material is permeable to the fuel, to the oxidizer and to the products of electrochemical reactions of this fuel and oxidizer,and current collecting means that is permeable to the fuel and the oxidizer electrically connecting the first electrode arrangement of a cell to the second electrode arrangement of the next adjacent cell in the series connection of cells.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Two or more individual fuel cells are connected together to form a modular assembly whose output voltage is two or more times that of a single cell. Corrugated current collectors interconnect adjacent cells and allow a required fuel/oxidizer mixture to have access to virtually the entire surface area of one side of each of the interconnected cells. Such a modular assembly is advantageously made by a continuous fabrication process. Each assembly is packaged in either a flat or a spiral form.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A modular fuel cell assembly comprising
n fuel cells, where n is a positive integer having a value of at least 2, each of said cells including a first electrode arrangement and a second electrode arrangement separated by and in contact with a solid-electrolyte body, wherein said first electrode arrangement is permeable to a fuel and an oxidizer, wherein said second electrode arrangement is impermeable to the fuel and the oxidizer, and wherein the solid-electrolyte body consists essentially of an electronically insulating material that is also ionically conducting to at least a first ionic species and which material is permeable to the fuel, to the oxidizer and to the products of electrochemical reactions of this fuel and oxidizer, and current collecting means that is permeable to the fuel and the oxidizer electrically connecting the first electrode arrangement of a cell to the second electrode arrangement of the next adjacent cell in the series connection of cells.
Specification