Patent ID: 7056480

Claim:
A fuel reforming system comprising: a membrane reactor ( 2 ) having a reforming catalyst section ( 4 ) for reforming a supplied fuel gas to a reformate gas; a membrane hydrogen separator ( 5 ) for separating hydrogen from the reformate gas; a hydrogen passage ( 6 ) for transferring hydrogen separated by the membrane hydrogen separator to a fuel cell ( 7 ); and a combustion catalyst section ( 3 ) for heating the reforming catalyst section; a first supply device ( 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 25 , 29 ) for supplying combustion gas to the membrane reactor, the first supply device having a combustor ( 14 ) for producing the combustion gas; a second supply device ( 1 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 33 ) for supplying the fuel gas to the reforming catalyst section; a sensor ( 16 ) for detecting a temperature of the membrane hydrogen separator; and a controller ( 15 ) functioning to: determine whether or not the temperature of the membrane hydrogen separator ( 5 ) is greater than or equal to a target temperature before the reforming catalyst section starts reformate reactions on the fuel gas; command the first supply device to supply the combustion gas to at least one of the reforming catalyst section and hydrogen passage when the temperature of the membrane hydrogen separator is smaller than the target temperature; and command the first supply device to stop the supply of the combustion gas and command the second supply device to start supply of the fuel gas to the reforming catalyst section of the membrane reactor when the temperature of the membrane hydrogen separator reaches the target temperature.