A novel method for manufacturing microchannels of metallic bipolar plate fuel cell by the hot metal gas forming process

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Kargar-Pishbijari ◽  
Seyed Jamal Hosseinipour ◽  
Hamed Jamshidi Aval
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Hot Metal ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Hot Metal Gas Forming ◽  
Metallic Bipolar Plate ◽  
Novel Method

The Cylindrical Structure of Metallic Bipolar Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

2011 ◽  
Vol 228-229 ◽  
pp. 1029-1034
Author(s):  
Jian Lan ◽  
Chen Ni ◽  
Lin Hua
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Battery Life ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Bipolar Plates ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Cylindrical Structure ◽  
Exchange Membrane

As a key component of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the bipolar plate’s performance will directly affect the power output and battery life of the fuel cell. The conventional metallic bipolar plate is prone to warp, and has large flatness error with residual stress induced by forming process. This will result in contacting incompletely with membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) and lower fuel cell efficiency. A cylindrical structure of the PEMFC metallic polar plate is proposed to improve its stiffness and to reduce assembling error of the fuel cell. The polar plate features, which were originally designed on a flat surface, are projected onto the cylindrical surface with a certain curvature. Two cylindrical polar plates are welded together to become a bipolar plate. The finite element method is applied to compare the stiffness of the conventional and cylindrical polar & bipolar plates. The cylindrical bipolar plate has better stiffness and anti-warping than the conventional bipolar plate. The feasibility of the cylindrical structure is verified by experiment and provides a new idea for the improvement of the bipolar plate and fuel cell stack.

Deformation Prediction of the Bipolar Plate Stamping

2014 ◽  
Vol 971-973 ◽  
pp. 270-274
Author(s):  
Hao Gao ◽  
Jian Lan ◽  
Lin Hua
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Channel Number ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Dimensional Error ◽  
The Right ◽  
Exchange Membrane

Bipolar plate is the key component of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell and represents a significant part of the overall cost and the total weight in a fuel cell stack. Many research have been done on the manufacturing methods of bipolar plate, among which stamping is very popular. With the increasing of the channel number and complexity, its dimensional error caused by sprinkback will change a lot, even under the same forming process. And the risk of crack is also different. These all impact the quality of bipolar plate. In order to predict deformation of channels and the plate’s quality, the displacement along X-axis, the strain and stress state, and the displacement along Z-axis are measured. The results show that 1) the risk of crack increases with the increasing of channel number; 2) the springbacks increase with the increasing of channel number; 3) the most dangerous point locates on the right internal fillet of the plate’s last section.

Flow-Channel Shape Design of Stamped Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cell by Micro-Forming Simulation

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linfa Peng ◽  
Xinmin Lai ◽  
Jun Ni ◽  
Z. Q. Lin
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Flow Channel ◽  
Micro Forming ◽  
Channel Depth ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Forming Simulation ◽  
Punch Radius

PEM fuel cells are promising candidate as most environmentally friendly power source for transport and stationary cogeneration applications due to its high efficiency, high power density, fast startup and system robustness. But the PEM fuel cell is still too expensive for widespread commercialization. Bipolar plate is one of the most important and costliest components of PEM fuel cells and accounts to more than 80% of the weight and 30% of the total cost in a fuel cell stack. To reduce the cost and weight of fuel cell stacks and at the same time meeting several technical requirements for mass production, a prototype of low-cost stamped bipolar plates made of stainless steel 316 sheets has been introduced in this paper. Base on micro sheet forming process simulation experiments, the influence of some key dimensions of the flow channel to the formability of the stamped polar plate is also detailedly studied. Micro-forming simulation results show that relative punch radius r/t (punch radius r, sheet thickness t) and the ration of the width of coolant channel to channel depth w/h (width of coolant channel w, channel depth h) are import factors that decide the final formability of the whole polar plate. Large r/t is recommended for compact flow channel design and larger w/t is recommended for safer forming process.

A Study on the Fabrication of Metallic Bipolar Plate for Subminiature Fuel Cell Using Powder Injection Molding Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 284-287 ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
Gun Hee Kim ◽  
Jeong Won Lee ◽  
Young Moo Heo ◽  
Myeong Woo Cho
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Injection Molding ◽  
Mass Production ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Powder Injection Molding ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Powder Injection ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Metallic Bipolar Plate

Subminiature fuel cell is a representative eco-friendly power source which possesses the merits of having the potential of being implemented in portable electronic devices and other subminiature devices, as well as having high energy density as compared to existing secondary cells. The size of the bipolar plate which is implemented in a subminiature fuel cell should be of a small size according to the size of the fuel cell, and the flow channel inside the bipolar plate also has be reduced to match the overall size of the bipolar plate. Therefore, a higher level of difficulty in the manufacturing process is involved in producing bipolar plate for subminiature fuel cells and mass production is extremely difficult. In this study, powder injection molding was applied to the production of subminiature metal bipolar plate to verify the possibility of mass production. For that, a bipolar plate and mold were designed and then a test injection forming was carried out. This was attempted to validate the feasibility of a subminiature metallic bipolar plate prepared through a debinding and sintering process by evaluating its electric conductivity and density.

Fabrication of Wave-Like Microstructure on the Bottom of Microflow Channel of Metallic Bipolar Plate

2013 ◽  
Vol 589-590 ◽  
pp. 547-551
Author(s):  
Hong Liang Tang ◽  
Zhen Ping Wan ◽  
Yong Tang
Keyword(s):  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Feed Speed ◽  
Bipolar Plates ◽  
Forming Mechanism ◽  
Metallic Bipolar Plates ◽  
Metallic Bipolar Plate ◽  
Novel Method

Metallic bipolar plates with unique wave-like microstructure on the bottom of microflow channel have shown promising prospects for the application in proton exchange membrane microfuel cell. A novel method—milling with special thin slotting cutters is developed for fabrication of wave-like microstructure on the bottom of microflow channels. The special thin slotting cutter is manufactured by removing one or several teeth every one tooth of the traditional slotting cutter regularly. Forming mechanism of wave-like microstructure is presented and experimental tests have been conducted for validation of the feasibility of the novel method. Results show that the wave-like microstructure can be successfully fabricated on the bottom of microflow channel. The bottom of bipolar plates with wave-like microstructure is not a flat plane, but a wavy groove. The wavelength and amplitude of wave-like microstructure increase with the increase of feed speed and the number of removed teeth.

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