Abstract:
A fuel cell, including a fuel cell core component having an anode current collection portion, at least one membrane electrode assembly, and a cathode current collection portion stacked in a sequential manner; a casing, made of a plastic material for surrounding the fuel cell core component therein.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to a fuel cell, particularly to one using a packaging material made of plastic material.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The conventional fuel cell has disclosed the techniques of using a printed circuit board(PCB) fabrication process for manufacturing the fuel cell within a multi-layer PCB. Since the membrane electrode assemblies of the fuel cell are laminated within the multi-layer PCB, the membrane electrode assemblies tend to be exposed to damage during the PCB fabrication process after motile heat treatment required in the fabrication process, so as to significantly reduce the passing rate of the fuel cell and thereby increasing the manufacturing cost.  
         [0003]     This invention intends to overcome the shortcomings resulted from the conventional fuel cell, where plastic material is used as the packaging casing of the fuel cell.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     It is an object of this invention to provide a fuel cell, where plastic material is used as the packaging casing of the fuel cell.  
         [0005]     It is another object of this invention to provide a fuel cell, where the packaging casing is made by injection molding process.  
         [0006]     To achieve the above objects, this invention provides a fuel cell, including a fuel cell core component having an anode current collection portion, at least one membrane electrode assembly, and a cathode current collection portion stacked in a sequential manner; a casing, made of a plastic material for surrounding the fuel cell core component therein.  
         [0007]     This invention may further include a fuel flow board made of a plastic material and joined to an outside surface of the casing, with the surface having an inner side neighboring the anode current collection portion. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     These and other modifications and advantages will become even more apparent from the following detained description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and from the drawings in which:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the fuel cell of this invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a structural schematic drawing of the fuel cell core component of this invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view illustrating an embodiment of the casing of this invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view illustrating the fuel cell of this invention, where a fuel flow board is additionally provided thereto; and  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the fuel cell in  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     In this invention, a fuel cell  10  is characterized by a casing  11  that is made of plastic material, such as plastic. Since such kind of material can easily adopt injection molding process and the cost relating to such process is relatively low, the manufacturing cost of the fuel cell is significantly reduced. While selecting the desired plastic material, if the acid-resistant property required by the casing  11  should be taken into consideration, the fuel cell  10  of this invention will be highly suitable to be implemented in a methanol fuel cell.  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the fuel cell of this invention. The fuel cell  10  includes a casing  11  and a fuel cell core component  13 . The casing  11  is formed therein with a space for receiving the fuel cell core component  13 , such that the casing  11  surrounds the fuel cell core component  13 . The fuel cell core component  13  includes a cathode current collection portion  131 , at least one membrane electrode assembly  133 , and an anode current collection portion  135  that are stacked from the top down.  FIG. 2  is a structural schematic drawing of the fuel cell core component  13  of this invention. The fuel cell core component  13  mainly serves to generate electro-chemical reaction thereby generating electrical power. The fuel cell core component  13  of this invention may adopt the conventional fuel cell core component, such that the process for making the fuel cell core component  13  is not described herein. The fuel cell core component  13  of this invention may alternatively be a flexible fuel cell core component, such as one using a flexible circuit board as its substrate. The fuel cell core component  13  may alternatively be made by means of a printed circuit board(PCB) fabrication process.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view illustrating an embodiment of the casing of this invention. The casing  11  includes an upper casing  111  and a lower casing  113 . The upper casing  111  and the lower casing  113  are, for example, each of an inverse-U configuration, such that joining of the upper casing  111  and lower casing  113  define a space therein for receiving the fuel cell core component  13 . First, the upper casing  111  and lower casing  113  may each be made of plastic material by means of injection molding into independent units. Then, while assembling the fuel cell  10 , the cell core component  13  is placed between the upper casing  11  and lower casing  113 . Finally, ultrasonic waves may be adopted for pressing the upper casing  111  and lower casing  113  together. Furthermore, the measure of using ultrasonic waves to be the joining means requires an extraordinarily short duration, so as to eliminate any damage to the fuel cell core component  13  placed in the space between the upper casing  111  and lower casing  113 .  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view illustrating the fuel cell in  FIG. 1 , where a fuel flow board is additionally provided thereto and  FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the fuel cell in  FIG. 4 . The fuel flow board  15  is also made of plastic material by means of injection molding process. The fuel flow board  15  mainly serves to provide a space through which anode fuel (such as methanol solution) flows, causing the anode fuel to flow into the anode terminal of each membrane electrode assembly  133 . The fuel flow board  15  may adopt ultrasonic waves as the means for pressing the fuel flow board  15  onto a surface of the casing  11 . Since the fuel flow board  15  serves to allow the anode fuel to flow through, it is joined to a surface at the side of the casing  11  where the anode fuel collection portion  135  is located, while pressing the fuel flow board  15  onto the casing.  
         [0018]     To ensure that fuel may be supplied to the fuel cell core component  13 , in this invention, the upper casing  111  and lower casing  113  may be formed with plural through holes at locations corresponding to the membrane electrode assemblies  133 , such that external air serving as cathode fuel would flow to the cathode terminals of the membrane electrode assembles  133  through the upper casing  111 . Similarly, the anode fuel in the fuel flow board  15  would flow to the anode terminals of the membrane electrode assembles  133  through the lower casing  113 .  
         [0019]     This invention is related to a novel creation that makes a breakthrough in the art. Aforementioned explanations, however, are directed to the description of preferred embodiments according to this invention. Since this invention is not limited to the specific details described in connection with the preferred embodiments, changes and implementations to certain features of the preferred embodiments without altering the overall basic function of the invention are contemplated within the scope of the appended claims.