Patent ID: 8236461

Claim:
A flow field plate assembly for distributing a reactant fluid to an electrode in a fuel cell, comprising: a base plate, as a separator, having at least one working face; a plurality of blocks on the working face of the base plate arranged in a plurality of rows and in a repeating and staggered pattern having a first gap with a first distance between two adjacent blocks in a row and a second gap with a second distance between two adjacent rows, each of the plurality of blocks having a front surface facing an upcoming reactant flow and a rear surface facing a downstream reactant flow, a size and a shape of the block and the first and the second distances being configured such that the reactant flow hitting against the front surface of a block is deflected and split into at least two flow streams at the central point of the block, and the reactant flow streams are forced to go through the first gaps and continue to be deflected, split and disturbed in the second gap by the rear surface of the block and the block in the next row; a gas diffusion layer in contact with a top surface of each of the plurality of blocks; and a plurality of flow distributing channels formed by and between the blocks, wherein the reactant flow going through the flow distributing channels is deflected, split, contracted and expanded in a constant distributing mode such that the reactant flow is well distributed within the flow distributing channels.