Patent ID: 8338041

Claim:
An indirect internal reforming high temperature fuel cell, comprising: a reformer for producing a hydrogen-containing gas from a hydrocarbon-based fuel by a steam reforming reaction; and a high temperature fuel cell that generates electric power using the hydrogen-containing gas, the reformer comprising a reactor vessel and a reforming catalyst bed packed with a granular catalyst having steam reforming activity in the reactor vessel, and the reformer being disposed at a position wherein the reformer receives thermal radiation from the high temperature fuel cell, wherein the reformer has a partition plate for dividing the reforming catalyst bed into at least two sections, a thermal conductivity of the partition plate is higher than an effective thermal conductivity of the catalyst bed, the partition plate extends in the reactor vessel from a part which is at a higher temperature in rated operation to a part which is at a lower temperature in rated operation, the high temperature fuel cell is essentially in a shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, and is configured so that an anode off gas is able to be burned on the upper surface of the high temperature fuel cell, and the reformer is disposed above the high temperature fuel cell, and is configured so that a flow direction of a gas in the reformer is essentially horizontal.