Fuel reforming system
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorYasukazu Iwasaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention presents a fuel reforming technique for a mobile fuel cell system capable of obtaining a reformed gas composition usable in fuel cell 200 even if vapor temperature supplied from an evaporator 102 into a fuel reformer 107 varies significantly. This system comprises means 601, 602 for detecting the flow rate of fuel vapor and oxygen to be supplied into the fuel reformer 107, and means 600 for detecting at least temperature of fuel vapor to be supplied into the fuel reformer, temperature of oxygen, and temperature of mixed gas of fuel vapor and oxygen, in which the ratio of the flow rate of fuel vapor and the flow rate of oxygen is corrected on the basis of the signal value of the temperature detecting means, and oxygen is supplied depending on the corrected ratio.
Claims13
A fuel reforming system comprising a fuel reformer for generating a reformed gas containing hydrogen by using a gas containing vapors of a gas fuel or a liquid fuel and a gas containing oxygen, a mixer of vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel and the gas containing the oxygen, a supplier of vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel into said fuel reformer through the mixer, a supplier of the gas containing the oxygen into said fuel reformer through the mixer, and a controller of a first flow rate of the vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel supplied into said fuel reformer and of a second flow rate of the gas containing the oxygen supplied into said fuel reformer, further comprising:
- a detector of the first flow rate of the vapors adapted to obtain a detected first flow rate;
- a detector of the second flow rate of the gas adapted to obtain a detected second flow rate;
- and
- a temperature detector of at least one of the vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel supplied into said fuel reformer, the gas containing the oxygen supplied into said fuel reformer, and a mixture of vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel and the gas containing the oxygen, and
- a controller configured to correct a ratio of the first flow rate of the vapors to the second flow rate of the gas depending on the output of said temperature detector, thereby obtaining a corrected ratio, determine the second flow rate to be supplied to the supplier of the gas containing the oxygen according to the detected first flow rate and the corrected ratio, and adjust a flow rate of the gas containing the oxygen into said fuel reformer by controlling the supplier of the gas containing the oxygen according to the determined second flow rate.
A fuel reforming method of a fuel reforming system, said fuel reforming system having a fuel reformer for generating a reformed gas containing hydrogen by using a gas containing vapors of a gas fuel or a liquid fuel and a gas containing oxygen, a mixer of vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel and the gas containing the oxygen, a first supplier of the vapors of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel into said fuel reformer through the mixer, and a second supplier of the gas containing the oxygen into said fuel reformer through the mixer, comprising:
- supplying the liquid fuel into the first supplier;
- detecting a temperature of the vapor of the gas fuel or the liquid fuel supplied into said fuel reformer;
- determining a first correction coefficient of a ratio of a first flow rate of the vapors of the gas fuel to a second flow rate of the gas containing the oxygen according to the detected temperature;
- detecting the first flow rate of the vapors;
- determining the second flow rate to be supplied to the second supplier according to the detected first flow rate and the determined first correction coefficient;
- and
- adjusting a flow rate of the gas containing the oxygen into said fuel reformer by controlling the second supplier according to the determined second flow rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.