End Plates

End plates or otherwise called clamp plates are needed at either end of the stack to apply pressure on the cells to maintain the structure as well as to prevent the gases from escaping from between the plates. Completed end plates generally have holes for the bolts as well as for the inlet and outlet manifolds.

Sometimes, the end plates also serve as flow field plates with flow channels on one side. For example, when a metal plate is used as the flow field plate, the end plates at the anode and cathode sides also serve as the flow field plates on their respective sides. However, a separate plate is often used as the end plate to assemble a fuel cell if graphite plates are used as the flow fields.