Patent ID: 7279016

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a segmented fuel cell bipolar separator plate, comprising the following steps: providing a sheet of material having a fixed width; passing the sheet through a tool a predetermined distance; forming a pattern on a central portion of the sheet with the tool to define a segment along the length of the sheet, the pattern including ribs defining a fuel flow path on a first side of the sheet and an oxidant flow path on an opposed second side of the sheet, the central portion positioned between a first outer portion and a second opposed outer portion, the first and second outer portions being free of ribs and positioned at opposed ends of the ribs; passing the sheet through a tool a predetermined distance; repeating the steps of forming the pattern on the sheet and passing the sheet through the tool until the sheet possesses a desired quantity of segments so as to form a segmented fuel cell bipolar separator plate; and positioning the segmented fuel cell bipolar separator plate in a fuel cell; wherein the pattern further includes a first mating pair of apertures in the first outer portion of each segment and a second mating pair of apertures in the opposed second outer portion of each segment.