| US 7,537,626 B2 | ||
| Gas-liquid separator for a fuel cell system onboard a vehicle | ||
| Kuri Kasuya, Saitama (Japan); and Osamu Ichikawa, Saitama (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Oct. 14, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/251,172. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2004-308063 (JP), filed on Oct. 22, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0086074 A1, Apr. 27, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. B01D 45/00 (2006.01); B01D 50/00 (2006.01); F02B 25/06 (2006.01); B01J 7/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 55—434 [55/337; 123/572; 48/61] | 9 Claims |
| 1. A gas-liquid separator for a fuel cell system onboard a vehicle comprising:
an upper chamber for receiving exhaust gas from the fuel cell system to separate water contained in the exhaust gas;
a lower chamber having a portion for discharging the water which is separated by the upper chamber;
a plate for separating the upper and lower chambers;
an inlet pipe for circulating the exhaust gas, the inlet pipe, which is attached to the upper chamber, having fluid communication
with an inside of the upper chamber; and
connecting holes bored in the plate, the connecting holes providing fluid communication between the upper and lower chambers;
wherein the connecting holes are positioned exclusively off a center of the plate and exclusively between the center of the
plate and a side wall of the gas-liquid separator opposite the inlet pipe, and the plate has ribs on an upper chamber side
for forming, as a whole, a serpentine fluid passage for the exhaust gas in the upper chamber,
wherein each of the connecting holes is positioned between two adjacent ribs forming the serpentine fluid passage, and
wherein portions of the ribs are arranged to prevent liquid from flowing under gravity from the connecting holes to the inlet
pipe when the gas liquid separator is tilted toward the inlet pipe.
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