A compact and highly impact-resistant fuel cell separator was developed to enable the CLARITY FUEL CELL fuel cell stack to be mounted under the front hood.By changing the seal cross-section of the separator from the previous trapezoidal shape with a broad foot section to a rectangular shape for downsizing, the seal width was reduced and stack volume was decreased by approximately 3 L. Also, covering the separator in resin and rubber to help ensure insulation obviated the need for the waterproofing and insulating structures commonly known as enclosure boxes, resulting in a structure that does not require sealing parts in the enclosure. Furthermore, the number of parts was reduced and processes were simplified by forming a flow path structure using the same rubber as the seal materials during seal molding. Impact resistance was also enhanced by providing indented sections made of resin at the four sides of the separator to suppress misalignment of the separator during a collision.By integrating the production processes of press-forming, resin molding, and rubber molding for making a separator having these structures into a single process, a low-cost manufacturing method that can be applied to mass production was developed.
Article of Honda R&D Technical Review Vol.29 No.2 (51 - 56)