Patent ID: 7799454

Claim:
A fuel cell stack comprising a first end plate, a second end plate, a number of conductive and flexible intermediate layers, and a number of fuel cells between the first end plate and the second end plate, wherein each fuel cell comprises in series an anode-facing end plate, an anode, an ion-exchanging layer, a cathode and a cathode-facing end plate to constitute an assembled and operational fuel cell, each intermediate layer is fluid-tight and comprises sealing edge sections for fluid channels, adjacent fuel cells are separated by one of the intermediate layers so that the intermediate layer is disposed between an anode-facing end plate and a cathode-facing end plate, one of the intermediate layers is disposed between the first end plate and a cooling plate coupled to the first end plate, one of the intermediate layers is disposed between the second end plate and a cathode-facing end plate, and one of the intermediate layers is disposed between the cooling plate and an anode-facing end plate.