Patent ID: 7966830

Claim:
An aircraft power generation system, comprising: a reformer coupled to an aircraft fuel supply to receive aviation fuel; a fuel cell coupled to the reformer to receive reformed fuel, the fuel cell having an outlet positioned to remove output products from the fuel cell; and a combustion chamber that includes: a first inlet coupled to the outlet of the fuel cell to receive the output products from the fuel cell; a second inlet coupled to the aircraft fuel supply to receive aviation fuel; at least one combustion zone coupled to the first and second inlets, the at least one combustion zone being positioned to burn the output products and the aviation fuel; wherein the combustion chamber is part of an airbreathing, turbofan engine configured to provide primary propulsive power to an aircraft; and a controller operatively coupled to the reformer, the fuel cell, and the combustion chamber, the controller having a computer readable medium containing instructions for performing a method comprising controlling an amount of fuel received by the reformer from the aircraft fuel supply such that the output products from the fuel cell includes a desired amount of unspent reformed fuel.