ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE ELASTOMERIC COMPRESSION PAD FOR USE WITH PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS

摘要

Electrically-conductive compression pad (51) suitable for use in an electrolysis cell stack. In a preferred embodiment, the electrically-conductive compression pad (51) comprises a single sheet (53) of elctrically-conductive material, such as a metal. The electrically-conductive sheet (53) has a top surface and a bottom surface and is bent upwardly and downwardly in a step-wise fashion to form an alternating pattern of parallel ribs and channels, the alternating pattern extending across the entirety of the sheet and being reversed on the bottom surface of the sheet. The pad (51) also comprises a plurality of elastomeric strips (59), each strip being positioned within a corresponding channel (57) and being secured to the sheet by an adhesive (60). The strips are preferably dimensioned and made of an appropriately compressible material so that, when the pad is compressed, the strips expand laterally to fill their respective channels and lie flush wiht their adjacent ribs.