US 11,843,139 B2
Fuel cell apparatus
Mitsuhiro Nakamura, Kirishima (JP); Mitsutaka Shimada, Kirishima (JP); Kyosuke Yamauchi, Kirishima (JP); Takayuki Maruyama, Niigata (JP); and Tatsuya Kanbayashi, Niigata (JP)
Assigned to KYOCERA Corporation, Kyoto (JP); and DAINICHI CO., LTD., Niigata (JP)
Appl. No. 16/071,087
Filed by KYOCERA CORPORATION, Kyoto (JP); and DAINICHI CO., LTD., Niigata (JP)
PCT Filed Jan. 20, 2017, PCT No. PCT/JP2017/002035
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 19, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/126699, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 27, 2017.
Claims priority of application No. 2016-011158 (JP), filed on Jan. 23, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0221869 A1, Jul. 18, 2019
Int. Cl. H01M 8/04007 (2016.01); H01M 8/04 (2016.01); H01M 8/04029 (2016.01); F28D 9/00 (2006.01); H01M 8/0612 (2016.01); H01M 8/2465 (2016.01); H01M 8/12 (2016.01)
CPC H01M 8/04074 (2013.01) [F28D 9/0075 (2013.01); H01M 8/04 (2013.01); H01M 8/04007 (2013.01); H01M 8/0612 (2013.01); H01M 8/2465 (2013.01); H01M 8/12 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fuel cell apparatus, comprising:
a fuel cell module extending height-wise from a first end to a second end that is opposite the first end, the fuel cell module comprising a housing, a reformer housed in the housing and located at the second end of the fuel cell module, and a fuel cell housed in the housing and located intervening between the first end and the second end of the fuel cell module, the fuel cell configured for generating electric power with use of a fuel gas and an oxygen-containing gas;
a heat exchanger located outside of the housing configured for carrying out heat exchange between water and exhaust gas from the fuel cell,
the heat exchanger arranged horizontally lateral to the housing; and
the housing internally comprising:
an oxygen-containing gas channel configured to supply the oxygen-containing gas to the fuel cell,
a first exhaust gas channel through which the exhaust gas coming from the fuel cell is configured to flow from the second end to the first end of the fuel cell module, and
a third exhaust gas channel through which the exhaust gas coming from the first exhaust gas channel is configured to flow to the heat exchanger flowing from the first end to the second end of the fuel cell module,
the first exhaust gas channel and the third exhaust channel connected to each other with the exhaust gas from the fuel cell configured to first flow through an area proximate to the reformer and into the first exhaust gas channel and then into the third exhaust gas channel,
the first exhaust gas channel, the third exhaust channel, and the oxygen-containing gas channel arranged substantially parallel and adjacent to each other in sequence with the first exhaust channel located closest to the fuel cell;
wherein
a full vertical dimension of the heat exchanger connected to the third exhaust gas channel is confined within a full vertical dimension of the housing as seen in a side view of the fuel cell apparatus.