US 11,870,118 B2
Fuel cell system
Kyosuke Yamauchi, Kirishima (JP); Naoki Yokoo, Niigata (JP); Hidetaka Ikarashi, Niigata (JP); Yutaro Sakata, Niigata (JP); and Hiroyuki Sato, Niigata (JP)
Assigned to KYOCERA Corporation, Kyoto (JP); and DAINICHI CO., LTD., Niigata (JP)
Appl. No. 17/615,854
Filed by KYOCERA CORPORATION, Kyoto (JP); and DAINICHI CO., LTD., Niigata (JP)
PCT Filed Jun. 2, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/021806
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 2, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/246475, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 10, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-104376 (JP), filed on Jun. 4, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0293984 A1, Sep. 15, 2022
Int. Cl. H01M 8/0612 (2016.01); H01M 8/0438 (2016.01); H01M 8/04746 (2016.01); H01M 8/04537 (2016.01); H01M 8/12 (2016.01)
CPC H01M 8/0618 (2013.01) [H01M 8/04425 (2013.01); H01M 8/04537 (2013.01); H01M 8/04776 (2013.01); H01M 2008/1293 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fuel cell system, comprising:
a fuel cell configured to generate power using a fuel gas and an oxygen-containing gas;
a reformer including a vaporizing section and a reforming section, the vaporizing section being configured to vaporize reformed water into steam, the reforming section being configured to cause the steam to react with a raw fuel to generate the fuel gas through a steam reforming reaction;
a raw fuel supply configured to supply the raw fuel to the reforming section;
a reformed water supply configured to supply the reformed water to the vaporizing section;
a controller having a plurality of calculation formulas for calculating an amount of reformed water to be used in the reforming section in response to a requested power level from an external unit, the plurality of calculation formulas including a formula to be selected in response to an increase in a requested current level from the external unit and a formula to be selected in response to a decrease in the requested current level from the external unit, the formula to be selected in response to the increase being different from the formula to be selected in response to the decrease; and
a raw fuel flow rate measurer configured to measure a flow rate of the raw fuel supplied to the reforming section,
wherein in response to a decrease in the requested power level from the external unit, the controller selects, from the plurality of calculation formulas, a first reformed water flow rate calculation formula to calculate an amount of reformed water per unit time to be used in the reforming section based on the flow rate of the raw fuel measured by the raw fuel flow rate measurer, and
the controller reduces the amount of reformed water supplied to the reformer after a delay from a timing at which a target generation current level decreases.