Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Keigo Miyai

Masataka Kadowaki

Akira Fuju

Masatoshi Ueda

Yasuo Miyake

Osamu Tajima

Yukinori Akiyama

Satoshi Yamamoto

Akira Hamada

Yasunori Yoshimoto

Nobuyoshi Nishizawa

Kunihiro Nakato

Masaru Tsutsumi

Tatsuji Hatayama

Koji Shindo

Katsuyuki Makihara

Kiyoshi Hori

Ryuji Yukawa

Kazuhiro Tajima

Katsuya Oda

Taketoshi Ouki

Junji Tanaka, Deceased

Tomotoshi Ikenaga

The object is to provide a simplified but highly efficient fuel cell system, permitting to perform the flame off detection and so on without supplying the burner with additional raw fuel, even if a flame rod system flame detection means is adopted as burner for reformer. The invention concerns a fuel cell system, comprising a reformer for reforming a hydrocarbon base fuel such as natural gas into hydrogen, a CO transformer, a CO eliminator, a fuel cell for generating electricity from hydrogen, and a burner for reformer for burning hydrogen gas discharged from the fuel cell and supply the reformer with heat necessary for reforming reaction, wherein the burner for reformer is provided with a flame rod system flame detection means and, at the same time, supplied with hydrogen gas containing a flame detectable amount of fuel gas.

Fuel cell system

Fuel cell system having a burner with a flame detection rod therein

Proton-exchange membrane fuel-cell power generating equipment includes a heat exchanger coupled to a process burner and, therethrough, to a fan. When water needs to be heated, such as during startup, the water is circulated through the heat exchanger and the process burner is operated (ignited) to heat the water. When the water needs to be cooled, such as when a hot water reserving tank is full, the water is circulated through the heat exchanger and the fan is operated, but the process burner is not operated, to cool the water. Water is circulated through part or all of a water system to prevent freezing while the system is stopped. Optionally, the process burner is operated to heat the circulated water. The heat exchanger and other heat exchangers in the system are arranged to efficiently recover heat from burners, a fuel-cell cooling system and exothermic processes.

Solid high polymer type fuel cell power generating device

A fuel cell comprising a stack including a stack including a plurality of cell units and a plurality of gas separators and at least one cooling plate, one of the gas separator and the cooling plate being interposed between adjacent cell units, the fuel cell being characterized in that; each gas separator and the cooling plate, respectively, have oxidant gas channels on one of surfaces that opposes to have contact with one of electrode surfaces of the cell unit to as to flow an oxidant gas in a direction vertical to a direction of a cooling air flowing through the cooling plate; each gas separator and the cooling plate, respectively, have fuel gas channels, a fuel-gas-supply inner manifold for taking in a fuel gas, and a fuel-gas-exhaust inner manifold for releasing the fuel gas having passed through the fuel gas channels on the other surface that opposes to have contact with the other electrode surface of the cell unit so as to flow the fuel gas in a direction parallel to the direction of the cooling air flowing through the cooling plates; and an inlet of the fuel-gas-supply inner manifold and an outlet of the fuel-gas-exhaust inner manifold are formed so as to supply and release the fuel gas in a same direction of the oxidant gas flowing through the oxidant gas channels.

Fuel cell using a separate gas cooling method

Growing community of inventors

Moriguchi, Japan

Keigo Miyai