Patent ID: 7448348

Claim:
A hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine that operates upon receipt of one or two or more types of fuel that are selected from hydrogenated fuel and a dehydrogenated product and hydrogen, which dehydrogenated product and hydrogen are obtained by dehydrogenating the hydrogenated fuel, the hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine comprising: a hydrogenated fuel storage section; reaction means that includes a catalyst that is positioned to be heatable and dehydrogenates hydrogenated fuel, which is supplied from the hydrogenated fuel storage section, on the catalyst that is heated; separation means for separating hydrogen-rich gas and a dehydrogenated product that are derived from dehydrogenation; a dehydrogenated product storage section for storing the separated dehydrogenated product; fuel supply means for arbitrarily selecting one or more types of fuel from among the hydrogenated fuel stored in the hydrogenated fuel storage section, the hydrogen-rich gas separated by the separation means, and the dehydrogenated product stored in the dehydrogenated product storage section, and supplying the selected types of fuel to the internal combustion engine, the fuel supply means comprising: hydrogenated fuel supply means for supplying the hydrogenated fuel to the internal combustion engine; hydrogen-rich gas supply means for supplying the hydrogen-rich gas to the internal combustion engine; dehydrogenated fuel supply means for supplying the dehydrogenated product to the internal combustion engine; and fuel selection means for selecting one or more types of fuel from the hydrogenated fuel, the hydrogen-rich gas, and the dehydrogenated product; and fuel supply control means for controlling the hydrogenated fuel supply means, the hydrogen-rich gas supply means, and the dehydrogenated fuel supply means so that the selected types of fuel are supplied to the internal combustion engine; fuel necessity judgment means for judging whether the supply of fuel is necessary; and dehydrogenated fuel supply judgment means for judging whether the dehydrogenated product can be supplied, wherein the fuel supply control means allows the hydrogenated fuel to be supplied to the internal combustion engine only when the necessity for fuel supply is recognized and the dehydrogenated product cannot be supplied.