Patent Application
20070231646
The present invention relates to a dissipating structure of a fuel flow board in a fuel cell, and more particularly, to a fuel flow board for a fuel cell, which integrates the functions of flowing and dissipating.
Prior arts about fuel flow boards of fuel cells usually emphasize modifying the flowing structures thereof, in order to flow fuel from the fuel flow boards into the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) smoothly. Unfortunately, heat is produced by MEAs during electrochemical reactions, and the existent heat has poor influence on the efficiency of generating power by the MEAs. Accordingly, some solutions have been employed in fuel cells. A conventional heat sink used in the fuel cell and a fuel flow board, however, are independent structures, instead of an integral structure as a whole. It is apparent that utilizing the conventional combination of a fuel flow board and a heat sink cannot reduce the volume of a fuel cell. Consequently, it is quiet difficult to apply fuel cells to current portable electronic products.
Therefore, an improved fuel flow board for a fuel cell is provided to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages. The fuel flow board of the invention possesses both functions of flowing and dissipating.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a fuel flow board for a fuel cell, which furnishes fuel with a flow structure and dissipates heat within an operated fuel cell as well.
In accordance with the aforesaid object of the invention, a fuel flow board for a fuel cell is provided. The fuel flow board comprises a body, at least one fuel supply portion and a dissipating component. The fuel supply portions are disposed on the surface of the body. The dissipating component is disposed within the body. A part of the dissipating component protrudes from the body. The dissipating component is deployed on the entire area of the fuel supply portions averagely.
The foregoing aspects, as well as many of the attendant advantages and features of this invention will become more apparent by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
As shown in
An exemplar of the dissipating components 135 may include any structure that can conduct heat. For example, the thermal conductive structure may take advantage of its own material to directly conduct heat away. The thermal conductive structure may be made of metal that has good thermal conductivity, and may be in the form of a solid pillar, a hollow pillar, or a plate. The structure may be disposed within the body 131, and may be zigzagged or linearly extended to be various geometric patterns for covering the entire area of the fuel supply portions 133 averagely. A protruding end of the dissipating component 135 may be further connected to a heat sink or a cooling system, in order to dissipate heat more completely. Or, a protruding end of the dissipating component 135 may be exposed in the external air, so as to remove heat outside.
The dissipating component 135 has, for instance, a structure of a hollow tube. A fluid may flow through the hollow tube, by which heat is removed out of the fuel cell 1. The structure of hollow tube may be a heat pipe. Hence, heat generated by the MEAs 111 is removed by means of the heat pipe.
The body 131 may utilize a substrate made of good adhesive material, such as a plastic substrate, a ceramic substrate, a printed circuit substrate, or a polymer plastic substrate.
The aforementioned fuel flow board combines the structures for flowing and dissipating, of which performance is superior to a traditional fuel flow board. It is also feasible to manufacture a miniaturized fuel cell using such fuel flow board.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, these are, of course, merely examples to help clarify the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, and alterations in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.
