Patent ID: 11870080
Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 12:
13. A solid oxide fuel cell system comprising:
a solid oxide fuel cell having a metal support cell, the metal support cell comprising an anode layer containing nickel metal, an electrolyte layer and a cathode layer stacked on a metal support part, the metal support part being formed of a porous metal and interposed between the anode layer and a flow passage portion through which an anode gas flows such that an entirety of the metal support part is provided between the anode layer and the flow passage portion, the porous metal being made of a corrosion resistant metal material,
a fuel introduction unit that introduces a hydrogen-containing gas into the anode layer,
an oxidation processing unit that introduces an oxygen-containing gas into the anode layer, the oxidation processing unit being configured to introduce the oxygen-containing gas into the anode layer by flowing the oxygen-containing gas in the flow passage portion, and
a control unit that controls operations of the fuel introduction unit and the oxidation processing unit,
when activating the anode layer, the control unit being configured to operate the oxidation processing unit to introduce the oxygen-containing gas into the anode layer to oxidize the nickel metal, the anode layer containing an unconnected network of nickel when the oxygen-containing gas is introduced, and being configured to operate the fuel introduction unit to introduce the hydrogen-containing gas into the anode layer to reduce the nickel that was oxidized to thereby increase a number of conduction paths formed by reduction of the nickel that electrically connect the electrolyte layer to the metal support part in the anode layer, and
the flow passage portion, the metal support part, and the anode layer being sequentially stacked such that the flow passage portion and the anode layer are in contact with opposite surfaces of the metal support part.