Development of Small Power Sources Based on a Micro-SOFC System Operated on Liquid Fuels for Mobile Electric Devices

Abstract

A small power source was designed based on a liquid hydrocarbon fueled micro-SOFC. In order to achieve thermal insulation in a restricted volume, a vacuum thermal insulator was developed and tested; it revealed that even a 1 mm vacuum zone showed high thermal resistivity over 200 KW-1 at 300˚C. Internal reforming tests with methanol-based fuels were performed with an isolated micro reformer; the results suggested that sufficient amount of methanol could be reformed at 400˚C. Finally, an integrated system of thermal insulator, reformer, and micro-SOFC was tested to prove the feasibility of the design, which was expected to achieve higher energy density per volume/mass than Li-ion batteries.