The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 19, 2001
Yoshimasa Negishi, Nishikamo-gun, JP;
Masaaki Yamaoka, Toyota, JP;
Kyo Hattori, Nisshin, JP;
Kazumasa Takada, Kariya, JP;
Hiromi Tanaka, Toyota, JP;
Shigeto Kajiwara, Toyota, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
The invention constructs a system which vaporizes a liquid raw material in a vaporizing section and steam-reforms the vaporized raw material in a reforming section to generate hydrogen. A pressure regulating valve for regulating the pressure in the vaporizing section is disposed at anywhere from the vaporizing section to downstream of the reforming section. When a hydrogen requirement is increased, the pressure regulating valve is controlled to decrease the pressure in the vaporizing section. The pressure reduction makes it possible to promote vaporization in the vaporizing section such that the rate of generation of steam can be improved. Moreover, during start-up of the system, the control mode is changed to open the pressure regulating valve, thereby limiting the rate of increase in pressure just after the generation of reformed gas has started.