Hydrogen generator with a supplementary air flow rate adjustor for a combustor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9843061-B2
Application number	US-201414407932-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2014
Priority date	Apr 5, 2013
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

A hydrogen generator includes: a reformer configured to generate a hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction of a material gas; a combustor configured to heat the reformer by diffusion combustion of the material gas and combustion air; a supplementary air flow rate adjuster configured to adjust the flow rate of supplementary air added to the material gas; and a controller configured to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster such that the flow rate of a mixture gas of the material gas and the supplementary air becomes a predetermined value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hydrogen generator comprising:
a material gas supply source configured to supply a material gas from which a hydrogen-containing gas is generated:
a reformer configured to generate the hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction of the material gas supplied via a first material gas passage connected between the reformer and the material gas supply source:
a combustor configured to heat the reformer by diffusion combustion of combustion air and the material gas supplied via a second material gas passage connected between the combustor and the material gas supply source;
an air flow rate adjuster configured to adjust a flow rate of air supplied to the combustor; a supplementary air flow rate adjuster configured to adjust a flow rate of supplementary air added to the material gas that is supplied to the combustor; and
a controller programmed to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster such that a flow rate of a mixture gas of the material gas and the supplementary air becomes a predetermined value,
wherein the supplementary air flow rate adjustor is disposed on a supplementary air passage and the supplementary air passage is connected to the second material gas passage prior to a connection of the second material gas passage to the combustor, and
wherein the combustor and the reformer are in direct thermal communication.

2. The hydrogen generator according to claim 1 , further comprising a first detector configured to detect composition of the material gas, wherein
the controller is further programmed to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster based on the composition of the material gas.

3. The hydrogen generator according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the combustor did not ignite at the time of start-up, the controller is further programmed to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster so as to stepwisely increase the flow rate of the supplementary air.

4. The hydrogen generator according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the combustor did not ignite at the time of start-up, the controller is further programmed to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster so as to stepwisely increase the flow rate of the supplementary air.

5. The hydrogen generator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first detector configured to detect composition of the material gas; and
a second detector configured to detect a temperature inside the combustor, wherein
the controller is further programmed to obtain an ignition determination temperature based on the composition of the material gas and then determine whether or not the combustor has ignited, based on a comparison between the temperature detected by the second detector and the ignition determination temperature.

6. The hydrogen generator according to claim 1 , wherein the air, of which air flow rate is adjusted by the air flow rate adjuster, is supplied to the combustor without being mixed with the material gas.

7. The hydrogen generator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the second material gas passage is a material gas branch passage that branches from the first material gas passage.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yakumaru Yuuichi
• Ukai Kunihiro
• Kobayashi Susumu

Classifications

• C01B2203/1064

  Platinum group metal catalysts · CPC title

• C01B3/02

  Production of hydrogen; Production of gaseous mixtures containing hydrogen · CPC title

• B01J19/0006

  Controlling or regulating processes (controlling or regulating in general G05) · CPC title

• C01B2203/1058

  Nickel catalysts · CPC title

• B01J2219/00164

  controlling the flow · CPC title