Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Minoru Mizusawa

Minoru Koga

Kouki Hamada

Yasunori Kotani

Takenori Watanabe

Toshio Kamata

Kazunori Kobayashi

Hidetoshi Takimoto

Satoshi Morishima

Sakae Chijiiwa

Yasuhiko Fukuchi

Souichirou Kawakami

A fuel reforming apparatus is provided such that an assembled unit of a reformerwith its associated instruments (a water vaporizer, primary fuel gasifier, desulfurizer, low-temperature shift converterand selective oxidation CO remover) is covered with and enclosed by a vacuum heat insulating vesselwith inner and outer cylindersandand a vacuum heat insulating layerbetween them. No heat insulating material such as ceramic fiber is required to be charged between the instruments and thus the heat insulating layer may be reduced in volume.

Fuel reforming apparatus and method for starting said fuel reforming apparatus

A reforming catalyst is composed of a plurality of catalyst layers arranged in series, and when started from a low temperature, preheated air is supplied in parallel to a point upstream of each catalyst layer, thereby the catalyst in each layer is self-heated simultaneously so that the catalyst is heated. After the catalyst is heated, feed of air is temporarily stopped, and supply of fuel gas is started. Next, air is supplied while controlling its flow rate so that temperatures in the catalyst do not exceed the temperature that the catalyst can withstand. Thus, no other special equipment is needed, and the catalyst can be started quickly (cold start). The catalyst can be made compact enough to install it in a electric vehicle.

Fuel reforming apparatus and the method of starting it

A plate reformer has a pair of combustion chambers, a reforming chamber in between the combustion chambers, and heat transfer plates sandwiched between the reforming chamber and the combustion chambers. The reforming chamber includes an inlet end for introduction of reforming gas and an outlet end for emission of reformed gas. The combustion chamber includes an inlet end for introduction of air and fuel and an outlet end for emission of combusted gas. A gas permeable partition wall is provided in the reforming chamber to partition it into a reforming reaction section having the inlet end and a heat exchange section having the outlet end. A gas permeable partition wall is provided in each combustion chamber to partition each into a combustion reaction section having the inlet end and a heat exchange section having the outlet end. The inlet end of the combustion chamber is aligned to the outlet end of the reforming chamber and the inlet end of the reforming chamber is aligned to the outlet end of the combustion chamber. The partition walls of the reforming chamber and the combustion chamber are provided such that they are approximately lined up and thus the reforming reaction section of the reforming chamber generally overlaps the heat exchange .section of the combustion chamber, while the combustion reaction section of the combustion chamber generally overlaps the heat exchange section of the reaction chamber.

Molten carbonate power generation system with plate reformer

A plate reformer has a pair of combustion chambers, a reforming chamber in between the combustion chambers, and heat transfer plates sandwiched between the reforming chamber and the combustion chambers. The reforming chamber includes an inlet end for introduction of reforming gas and an outlet end for emission of reformed gas. The combustion chamber includes an inlet end for introduction of air and fuel and an outlet end for emission of combusted gas. A gas permeable partition wall is provided in the reforming chamber to partition it into a reforming reaction section having the inlet end and a heat exchange section having the outlet end. A gas permeable partition wall is provided in each combustion chamber to partition each into a combustion reaction section having the inlet end and a heat exchange section having the outlet end. The inlet end of the combustion chamber is aligned to the outlet end of the reforming chamber and the inlet end of the reforming chamber is aligned to the outlet end of the combustion chamber. The partition walls of the reforming chamber and the combustion chamber are provided such that they are approximately lined up and thus the reforming reaction section of the reforming chamber generally overlaps the heat exchange section of the combustion chamber, while the combustion reaction section of the combustion chamber generally overlaps the heat exchange section of the reaction chamber.

Plate reformer

A plate type shift converter comprises a stack of alternately piled shift reactor plates and cooling plates and various gas intake and exhaust manifolds mounted on lateral faces of the stack. Each shift reactor plate includes a plate member, a masking frame provided along the periphery of the plate member, a gas entrance formed in the masking frame, a gas exit formed at a location opposite the gas entrance in the masking frame and a shift catalyst located in the masking frame. Each cooling plate includes a plate member, a masking frame provided along the periphery of the plate member, a gas entrance formed in the masking frame, a gas exit formed at a location opposite the second gas entrance in the masking frame and a fin plate located in the masking frame. When gases are introduced to the shift reactor plate, the gases undergo the CO shift reaction (exothermic reaction) as they flow contacting the shift catalyst. At the same time, the gases are cooled by the cooling plates which sandwich the flow of the gases or sandwich the shift reactor plate.

Plate shift converter

A power generation system uses fuel cells stacked via separators. Cooling plates are provided in the fuel cell stack. Passages are formed in each cooling plate for allowing raw-material-gas-for-reformation (which also serves as stack-cooling-gas) to flow therethrough and the passages are filled with reforming catalyst. An external reformer which includes a combustion section and a reforming section is provided outside of the fuel cell stack. A stack-cooling-gas-line is connected to the passages of the cooling plates for introducing the raw-material-gas-for-the-reformation (the stack-cooling-gas) into the passages. A line for gas-for-processing is connected to the reforming section of the external reformer for feeding raw-material-gas-for-processing to the reforming section. An anode gas feed line is provided for feeding to the anode the reformed gas which has been reformed through the passages of the cooling plates and the reformed gas which has been reformed by the reforming section of the external reformer. An anode exit gas line is provided for feeding the anode exit gas to the combustion section of the external reformer. A cathode gas feed line is provided for feeding the combustion exhaust gas discharged from the combustion section to the cathode with air. A cathode exit gas line is provided for discharging the cathode exit gas.

Growing community of inventors

Matsudo, Japan

Minoru Mizusawa