US 12,255,359 B2
Fuel cell stack comprising variable bipolar plates
Adel Jilani, Burnaby (CA); Sanjiv Kumar, Burnaby (CA); Radu P. Bradean, Burnaby (CA); and Sebastian Voigt, Heilbronn (DE)
Assigned to AUDI AG, Ingolstadt (DE)
Appl. No. 17/607,335
Filed by AUDI AG, Ingolstadt (DE)
PCT Filed Feb. 11, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/053422
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/221481, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 5, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2019 206 117.6 (DE), filed on Apr. 29, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0246949 A1, Aug. 4, 2022
Int. Cl. H01M 8/026 (2016.01); H01M 8/0267 (2016.01); H01M 8/1004 (2016.01); H01M 8/1007 (2016.01)
CPC H01M 8/026 (2013.01) [H01M 8/0267 (2013.01); H01M 8/1004 (2013.01); H01M 8/1007 (2016.02)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fuel cell stack, comprising:
a stack of membrane electrode assemblies and bipolar plates situated in alternating manner between two end plates of the fuel cell stack,
wherein the bipolar plates each comprise an anode plate having an anode side and a coolant side, a cathode plate having a cathode side and a coolant side, a plurality of electrode-side flow pathways having path depths, and a plurality of coolant-side flow pathways having path depths, and
wherein a first one of the bipolar plates is situated in a stack direction closer to a first end plate of the two end plates of the fuel cell stack than a second one of the bipolar plates, and wherein the first one of the bipolar plates comprises at least one cathode-side flow pathway having a path depth which is greater than a path depth of at least one cathode-side flow pathway of the second one of the bipolar plates based on being closer to the first end plate.