Patent ID: 7416570

Claim:
A hydrogen generator comprising a reformer configured to generate a reformed gas mainly containing hydrogen from a material through a reforming reaction, a material passage configured to supply the material to said reformer, a shifter configured to lessen carbon monoxide in the reformed gas through a shift reaction, a reformed gas passage configured to supply the reformed gas from said reformer to said shifter, and a shifted gas passage configured to take out a shifted gas obtained from said shifter, wherein: said hydrogen generator is configured to perform heat exchange between said shifted gas passage and said material passage; an interior of a body of said hydrogen generator is partitioned by a plurality of axially-directed walls sharing a central axis and arranged opposing to one another at predetermined gaps, and by a plurality of radially-directed walls arranged at a predetermined end portion of said axially-directed walls so as to intersect with said axially-directed walls, so that said material passage, said reformed gas passage, and said shifted gas passage are formed in said body, said reformer is formed along the central axis, and said shifter is formed in the axial direction side of said reformer; said material passage is arranged so as to surround an outer side of said reformer, one end portion thereof is connected to one end face of said reformer in the axial direction, and at least a portion thereof is formed along one end face of said reformer in the axial direction; said reformed gas passage is arranged so as to surround an outer circumference of said reformer, one end portion thereof is connected to the other end face of said reformer in the axial direction, and another end portion thereof is connected to an upstream face of said shifter; said shifter is arranged so as to oppose said one end face of said reformer in the axial direction with said material passage interposed therebetween; and said shifted gas passage is connected to a downstream end face of said shifter at one end portion thereof, and between said carbon monoxide shifter and said reformer opposing each other, said shifted gas passage is directly or indirectly in contact with a portion of said material passage that is along the end face of said reformer.