Methods and devices for printing seals for fuel cell stacks

摘要

Various embodiments include a fuel cell stack seal application method including the step of applying a seal paste to a fuel cell, placing the fuel cell in a fuel cell stack, and thermally treating the fuel cell stack to set the seal paste into a seal. Further embodiments include applying the seal paste to an interconnect using stencil printing.

主权项

1. A method of forming a seal on a fuel cell, comprising:
placing a first stencil having a first open space and first solid webbings on the fuel cell, the first open space defining a shape of the seal; applying a first seal paste to the first stencil to fill the first open space, the first solid webbings occupying first locations in the first open space filled with the first seal paste; removing the first stencil from the fuel cell to expose the first locations that were occupied by the first solid webbings, gaps appearing at the first locations in the first seal paste; placing a second stencil having a second open space and second solid webbings on the fuel cell, the second stencil being placed such that the first seal paste is within the second open space and the second solid webbings occupy second locations different from the first locations where gaps appear in the first seal paste; applying a second seal paste to the second stencil to fill the second space, including the gaps; removing the second stencil; placing the fuel cell in a fuel cell stack; and thermally treating the fuel cell stack to set the first and second seal pastes into the seal.