Patent ID: 7244281

Claim:
A plasma fuel reformer assembly for producing reformate gas, the fuel reformer assembly comprising: a plasma fuel reformer having (i) an air/fuel input assembly, (ii) an electrode assembly comprising a first electrode and a second electrode that is spaced apart from the first electrode, (iii) a soot trap positioned downstream of the electrode assembly, and (iv) an outlet, a conduit fluidly coupling the outlet of the plasma fuel reformer to one of an emission abatement device and an intake of an internal combustion engine, wherein the soot trap is positioned to filter reformate gas produced by the plasma fuel reformer assembly prior to the reformate gas exiting the conduit, and a reformer controller electrically coupled to the air/fuel input assembly, the controller comprising (i) a processing unit, and (ii) a memory unit electrically coupled to the processing unit, the memory unit having stored therein a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unit to: operate the air/fuel input assembly so as to advance a first air/fuel mixture with a first air-to-fuel ratio into the plasma fuel reformer, determine if a soot purge of the soot trap of the plasma fuel reformer is to be performed and generate a purge-soot signal in response thereto, and operate the air/fuel input assembly so as to advance a second air/fuel mixture having a second air-to-fuel ratio greater than the first air-to-fuel ratio into the plasma fuel reformer.