Reformer for fuel cell system
AssigneeYamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYutaka Mizuno, Toshiharu Hanajima, Hisayoshi Matsubara
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Abstract
A number of embodiments of reformers for reforming fuel for a fuel cell that includes an elongated catalyst bed with fuel to be reformed being delivered at one end of the bed and extracted from the other end of the bed. Heat is applied to a greater extent at the inlet end of the catalyst bed than the outlet end to prevent the formation of carbon monoxide in the products delivered from the outlet. In all embodiments, the catalyst bed has a spiral configuration and the fuel is heated before it is delivered to the catalyst bed. In some embodiments the same heat sources are employed for heating both the fuel and the catalyst bed.
Claims8
A method for reforming fuel within a spirally configured catalyst bed having a catalyst cooperable with the fuel to effect at least an exothermic reaction which reverses in direction at a temperature above a predetermined temperature, said method comprising the steps of passing fuel to be reformed along the catalyst bed from an inlet end formed at the center of the spiral to an outlet end at the outer peripheral end of the spiral and extracting reformed fuel from the outlet end of the catalyst bed, and heating the catalyst bed to a higher level adjacent the inlet end than adjacent the, outlet end for maintaining the temperature of the catalyst bed below the predetermined temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.