Patents by Inventor Masayo Sugou
Masayo Sugou has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 7635532Abstract: A decrease in voltage in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising stack of unit cells caused by the temperature difference between the cells located at the ends and the other cells due to a differential in heat dissipation from end plates is prevented by controlling the cooling temperature of the cells closest to the end plates of the fuel cell without affecting the output voltage of the cells in the middle by not including a coolant flow channel in the conductive separator plate between at least one of the end plates and the unit cell located closest to the one of the end plates.Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2006Date of Patent: December 22, 2009Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou, legal representative
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Patent number: 7452624Abstract: A polymer electrolyte fuel cell of the present invention includes conductive separator plates comprising molded plates of a composition comprising a binder, conductive carbon particles whose average particle diameter is not less than 50 ?m and not more than ? of the thickness of the thinnest portion of the conductive separator plate, and at least one of conductive carbon fine particles and micro-diameter carbon fibers. The separator plates do not require conventional cutting processes for gas flow channels, etc., and can be easily mass produced by injection molding and achieve a reduction in the cost.Type: GrantFiled: February 14, 2002Date of Patent: November 18, 2008Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Kazuhito Hatoh, Junji Niikura, Teruhisa Kanbara, Hideo Ohara, Hiroki Kusakabe, Nobuhiro Hase, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Susumu Kobayashi, Masayo Sugou, legal representative, Tatsuto Yamazaki
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Patent number: 7378169Abstract: A decrease in voltage in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising stack of unit cells caused by the temperature difference between the cells located at the ends and the other cells due to a differential in heat dissipation from end plates is prevented by controlling the cooling temperature of the cells closest to the end plates of the fuel cell without affecting the output voltage of the cells in the middle by not including a coolant flow channel in the conductive separator plate between at least one of the end plates and the unit cell located closest to the one of the end plates.Type: GrantFiled: March 21, 2003Date of Patent: May 27, 2008Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Masayo Sugou, legal representative, Tatsuto Yamazaki
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Patent number: 7318974Abstract: A polymer electrolyte fuel cell of the present invention includes a hydrogen ion-conductive polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode and a cathode sandwiching the hydrogen ion-conductive polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying a fuel gas to the anode, and a cathode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying an oxidant gas to the cathode.Type: GrantFiled: April 9, 2002Date of Patent: January 15, 2008Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hideo Ohara, Hiroki Kusakabe, Masayo Sugou, legal representative, Nobuhiro Hase, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Toshihiro Matsumoto, Satoru Fujii, Kazuhito Hatoh, Masato Hosaka, Junji Niikura, Kazufumi Nishida, Teruhisa Kanbara, Tatsuto Yamazaki, deceased
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Patent number: 7205061Abstract: A polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising: a plurality of conductive separator plates, each comprising a corrugated metal plate; an electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly inserted between the separator plates, the electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly including a hydrogen-ion conductive polymer electrolyte membrane having its periphery covered with a gasket, an anode attached to one side of the electrolyte membrane, and a cathode attached to the other side of the electrolyte membrane; and gas charge and discharge device for charging and discharging a fuel gas and an oxidant gas to and from the anode and the cathode, respectively, wherein the gas charge and discharge device charges and discharges the fuel gas to and from the anode through the grooves on one side of the corrugated metal plate and charges and discharges the oxidant gas to and from the cathode through the grooves on the other side of the corrugated metal plate.Type: GrantFiled: February 8, 2001Date of Patent: April 17, 2007Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hideo Ohara, Toshihiro Matsumoto, Yasushi Sugawara, Masayo Sugou, legal representative, Junji Niikura, Kazuhito Hatoh, Teruhisa Kanbara, Tatsuto Yamazaki, deceased
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Publication number: 20060269810Abstract: A decrease in voltage in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising stack of unit cells caused by the temperature difference between the cells located at the ends and the other cells due to a differential in heat dissipation from end plates is prevented by controlling the cooling temperature of the cells closest to the end plates of the fuel cell without affecting the output voltage of the cells in the middle by not including a coolant flow channel in the conductive separator plate between at least one of the end plates and the unit cell located closest to the one of the end plates.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 13, 2006Publication date: November 30, 2006Applicants: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou
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Patent number: 7014940Abstract: A fuel cell including a cell stack including plural electrically conductive separator plates and MEAs (electrolyte membrane-electrode assemblies) inserted among the separator plates. The fuel cell further includes gas communication grooves, where the gas communication grooves on one main surface of each separator plate are positioned to correspond to the ribs on the other main surface thereof, whereby thin wall portions in the separator plate can be avoided as much as possible, thereby to solve above described problems.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 2002Date of Patent: March 21, 2006Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Masayo Sugou, legal representative, Tatsuto Yamazaki, deceased
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Patent number: 6933070Abstract: A conductive separator plate for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell is disclosed which includes a cell stack and a plurality of conductive separator plates, the conductive separator plates being formed of a carbon powder and a binder, the conductive separator plates having a main portion which is raised from a peripheral portion surrounding the main portion, the main portion being in contact with an anode or cathode of the fuel cell and being provided with a gas flow path for supplying a fuel gas to the anode or a gas flow path for supplying an oxidant gas to the cathode.Type: GrantFiled: September 11, 2002Date of Patent: August 23, 2005Assignee: Matushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiroki Kusakabe, Kazuhito Hatoh, Hideo Ohara, Nobuhiro Hase, Susumu Kobayashi, Masayo Sugou, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Tatsuto Yamazaki
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Patent number: 6921598Abstract: The present invention relates to a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising: an electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode and a polymer electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween; an anode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying a fuel gas to the anode; and a cathode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying an oxidant gas to the cathode. A conductive separator plate made of carbon has poor wettability with water. This has posed the disadvantage that variations in performance are induced by nonuniform gas distribution among cells due to the accumulation of product water or humidifying water in the gas flow channel on the surface of the separator plate. The present invention employs a conductive separator plate comprising a conductive carbon having a hydrophilic functional group, at least in a portion of the gas flow channels, thereby preventing water from accumulating in the gas flow channels.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2001Date of Patent: July 26, 2005Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Masao Yamamoto, Junji Niikura, Nobuhiro Hase, Kazuhito Hatoh, Hisaaki Gyoten, Hideo Ohara, Teruhisa Kanbara, Masayo Sugou, Tatsuo Yamazaki
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Publication number: 20030180590Abstract: A decrease in voltage in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising stack of unit cells caused by the temperature difference between the cells located at the ends and the other cells due to a differential in heat dissipation from end plates is prevented by controlling the cooling temperature of the cells closest to the end plates of the fuel cell without affecting the output voltage of the cells in the middle by not including a coolant flow channel in the conductive separator plate between at least one of the end plates and the unit cell located closest to the one of the end plates.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 21, 2003Publication date: September 25, 2003Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou
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Publication number: 20030157387Abstract: The present invention relates to a fuel cell comprising a cell stack including plural electrically conductive separator plates and MEAs (electrolyte membrane-electrode assemblies) inserted among the separator plates, more particularly to improvements of the separator plates. Conventionally, fuel gas communication grooves and oxidant gas communication grooves were formed on the front and the rear main surfaces of each separator plate, respectively, so that both gas communication grooves are positioned to correspond to each other. Accordingly, when it was attempted to make the fuel cell smaller in size, the groove bottom portions between both gas communication grooves in each separator plate became more thin-walled. This brought about consequential problems of e.g. gas leakage due to fractures of the thin wall portions and difficulty in molding the thin wall portions.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 26, 2002Publication date: August 21, 2003Inventors: Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou
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Publication number: 20030152819Abstract: End plates, as constituting elements in a fuel cell, are conventionally made by cutting metal plates. Therefore, they have problems in that it is difficult to reduce their cost, and they are inconveniently heavy, and that they are likely to be corroded by supplied gases and cooling water since they contact such gases and water at inside surfaces of manifold holes of the metal end plates.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 11, 2002Publication date: August 14, 2003Inventors: Kazuhito Hatoh, Hiroki Kusakabe, Hideo Ohara, Susumu Kobayashi, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou, Nobuhiro Hase, Shinsuke Takeguchi
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Publication number: 20030072986Abstract: A conductive separator plate for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell which comprises a cell stack comprising a plurality of membrane electrode assemblies and a plurality of conductive separator plates that are stacked alternately, each of the membrane electrode assemblies comprising a hydrogen-ion conductive polymer electrolyte membrane, and an anode and a cathode sandwiching the polymer electrolyte membrane, the conductive separator plate being formed of a molded plate comprising a carbon powder and a binder, the conductive separator plate having a main portion which is raised from a peripheral portion surrounding the main portion, the main portion being in contact with the anode or the cathode and being provided with a gas flow path for supplying a fuel gas to the anode or a gas flow path for supplying an oxidant gas to the cathode.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 11, 2002Publication date: April 17, 2003Inventors: Hiroki Kusakabe, Kazuhito Hatoh, Hideo Ohara, Nobuhiro Hase, Susumu Kobayashi, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou, Shinsuke Takeguchi
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Publication number: 20030003345Abstract: A polymer electrolyte fuel cell of the present invention includes a hydrogen ion-conductive polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode and a cathode sandwiching the hydrogen ion-conductive polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying a fuel gas to the anode, and a cathode-side conductive separator plate having a gas flow channel for supplying an oxidant gas to the cathode.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 9, 2002Publication date: January 2, 2003Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hideo Ohara, Hiroki Kusakabe, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou, Nobuhiro Hase, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Toshihiro Matsumoto, Satoru Fujii, Kazuhito Hatoh, Masato Hosaka, Junji Niikura, Kazufumi Nishida, Teruhisa Kanbara
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Publication number: 20020197523Abstract: A method of producing a fuel cell comprising the steps of: (A) molding a separator having a gas flow channel or a cooling water flow channel by injection molding process having a step of injecting a mixture comprising one or more conductive inorganic materials and one or more resins into a mold; (B) producing an assembly comprising an electrolyte and a pair of electrodes sandwiching the electrolyte; and (C) combining the separator with the assembly to produce a fuel cell.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 11, 2002Publication date: December 26, 2002Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., LtdInventors: Hideo Ohara, Kazuhito Hatoh, Katsumi Tomita, Nobuhiro Hase, Hiroki Kusakabe, Tatsuto Yamazaki, Masayo Sugou, Shinsuke Takeguchi, Susumu Kobayashi, Hikaru Murakami, Mikio Takezawa, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Takayuki Onishi, Hiroaki Matsuoka