BIPOLAR PLATE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A BIPOLAR PLATE

A bipolar plate (1) is made of two half-plates (2, 3) which lie against each other, comprising a plurality of media ports (6, 7, 8), a distributor field (9) which is designed to distribute media flowing through the ports (6, 7, 8), an active field (11), and a transition region (10) which is arranged between the distributor field (9) and the active field (11) and describes a strip-shaped channel structure (14) in plan view of the half-plates (2, 3). Each half-plate (2, 3) is equipped with recesses (12) with a normal embossing depth (h0), recesses (13) with a reduced embossing depth (h1), and recesses (20) with an increased embossing depth (h2), wherein the two half-plates (2, 3) lie against each other such that the different recesses (12, 13, 20) and non-recessed regions (16) of the half-plates (2, 3) between the recesses form a channel structure (14) within which a non-recessed region (16) of one half-plate (2, 3) constantly lies over a non-recessed region (16) of the other half-plate (2, 3) such that a strip pattern of the non-recessed regions (16) is produced. Different recessed regions (17, 18, 19) are arranged between the strips formed by the non-recessed regions (16) in an alternating manner, namely a recessed region (17) which is embossed in a normal manner and in which the two half-plates (2, 3) have the normal embossing depth (h0), a modified recessed region (18) of a first type in which the first half-plate (2) has the increased embossing depth (h2) and the second half-plate (3) has a reduced embossing depth (h1), another completely embossed recessed region (17), and a modified recessed region (19) of a second type in which the first half-plate (2) has the reduced embossing depth (h1) and the second half-plate (3) has the increased embossing depth (h2).