cellule d'une pile à combustible

16:50 Apr 10, 2014 

sorry, this definitely is a "pile à combustible"... mentioned many times throughout the text. The text also refers to an "empilement", principally "empilement de motifs élémentaires", which I understand to be "repeating patterns" (in fact the term belongs to IT and chemistry ("repeating unit") and is I think used rather confusingly here). I now realise I should have explained more... but assumed people would take it on trust that we are definitely talking about a "pile à combustible".

16:35 Apr 10, 2014 

Hi Chris, linguistically you are right but in this case it is a fuel-cell. The natural gas will be re-formed to produce hydrogen which is the standard fuel in a fuel cell.

16:28 Apr 10, 2014 

The ST as given is "...dans les cellules de la pile", no mention here of "à combustible", except in the header. Which is correct? Is this, in fact, a fuel cell, or a novel form of electrochemical cell? As Merlrennes points out, a "pile" (in deference to Volta) is a collection of cells, more properly called a battery, and often used incorrectly in vernacular French. Eg a 9V battery is described as a "pile", though it actually contains 6 "cells".//Oops, got that wrong! Single cells (eg AA,AAA) are sold as "piles", and describing a 9V battery as a "pile" is correct! Mea culpa.

16:00 Apr 10, 2014 

Yes, you're right, Anca. That is confusing matters slightly.

15:49 Apr 10, 2014 

The problem is that the sentence calls for Tony's translation (a fuel cell stack is a formed by individual fuel cells connected in series), while the term in the title calls for merlrennes' translation.

15:18 Apr 10, 2014 

A collection of cells is a battery but it is not a fuel cell. I hesitate with the word "stack" as the whole sentence talks about the introduction of natural gas into the "cell". There is I think only one cell in a fuel cell. (This answer isn't very elegant either!) A cell in a battery produces a specific voltage that is characteristic of the electrochemical reaction. This is the same for the fuel cell where the voltage generated is characteristic of the electrochemical potential of the redox reaction between the fuel and the oxidant.

15:11 Apr 10, 2014 

I'd like to see what other people think - this is not my subject area at all.

14:59 Apr 10, 2014 

yes, thanks for your suggestion... I just did a google on "cell of a fuel cell" (surrounded by quotes) and there are many hits, but they are all followed by the word "stack". I'm therefore also wondering whether "pile à combustible" should in fact be "fuel cell stack" in this case... Care to submit an answer?

14:38 Apr 10, 2014 

Or what about "stack"? I know that "cells of a fuel cell" is OK terminology, but if it occurs just once in the text, you could get round the inelegant repetition. Even patents can be elegant :-)

14:16 Apr 10, 2014 

Isn't a collection of cells called a battery?