MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELL

PURPOSE:To reduce the thermal stress to a battery component by bisymmetrically diffusing a starting gas within a reforming unit from the center to send it into a reforming catalyst part, and successively reducing the particle size of the reforming catalyst in the inflow direction of the starting gas. CONSTITUTION:Reforming unit chambers 3 are formed on several numbers of gas separating plates 2. A starting gas A separated into each reforming unit chamber 3 is bisymmetrically separated while it is introduced into the deep part of an introducing passage 5 in the center part, and after a reforming reaction is caused, a reformed gas B is sent out from a pair of deriving passage 7 on the both sides of the reforming unit chamber 3 and distributed to each anode electrode of a battery. As the particle sizes of reforming catalysts 81-83 are successively reduced in the inflow direction of the starting gas B, the starting gas A is uniformly supplied over the whole surface of the reforming unit chamber 3 to conduct an uniform reforming reaction. Hence, the temperature distribution within a cell surface is made uniform, and the thermal stress to the battery component can be reduced.