Development of Fuel Cell Reformer Structur Used by 3D Model of Thermal Fluid and Catalytic Reactions

The three-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted for design and development of the fuel reformer for on-site fuel cell. The simulation model made by thermal fluid analysis software STAR-CD was applied to analysis of the gas flow, the heat transfer, and the catalytic reaction in the fuel reformer. Distributions of the gas flow, the heat flux and the chemical reactions in the fuel reformer were able to calculate. Residual reactant CH4 fraction error calculated was c. a. 10% compared with the theoretical equilibrium value. The calculation results showed that a short inflow manifold in the catalyst layer enhanced the uniformity of circumferential gas flow distribution, and that a buffer surface at the high temperature area had an effect to reduce the circumferential distribution of reactions. These suggest that this analysis has reasonable potential for disigning of the fuel reformer.