| US 7,527,884 B2 | ||
| Fuel processing system and its shutdown procedure | ||
| Motohisa Kamijo, Kanagawa (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Kanagawa-Ken (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 14, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/78,391. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0204800 A1, Sep. 14, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. H01M 8/18 (2006.01); H01M 8/04 (2006.01); C01B 3/12 (2006.01); B01J 11/00 (2006.01); B01J 8/04 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 429—20 [429/17; 423/655; 422/189; 422/190; 422/198] | 12 Claims |
| 11. In a fuel cell system that includes at least one water gas shift reactor, a fuel reformer upstream of the water gas shift
reactor, at least one preferential oxidation reactor downstream of the water gas shift reactor, and at least one fuel cell
downstream of the preferential oxidation reactor,
a method of shutting down the fuel cell system, the method comprising the steps of:
shutting down a supply of reformate from the fuel reformer to the water gas shift reactor to start a shutdown procedure of
electrical generation of the fuel cell;
monitoring a temperature of at least one of the fuel reformer, the water gas shift rector and the preferential oxidation reactor;
supplying air to the water gas shift reactor and also to the preferential oxidation reactor in response to the monitored temperature
after the shutdown procedure of electrical generation of the fuel cell has been started at a quantity such that the temperature
of each of the water gas shift reactor and the preferential oxidation reactor is lower than a maximum working temperature
of the reactor; and
transferring heat generated due to oxidation by the supplied air within the fuel reformer and the water gas shift reactor
to the preferential oxidation reactor by supplying vaporized water to upstream of the water gas shift reactor in response
to the monitored temperature after the shutdown procedure of electrical generation of the fuel cell has been started in order
to maintain the temperature within the preferential oxidation reactor high enough for oxidation reaction to proceed.
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