HIGH EFFICIENCY MICRO-POWER GENERATOR FOR PORTABLE APPLICATIONS

A micro-power generator for portable applications with a micro-scale reformer tube having a diameter of 3 mm or less, a plurality of fuel cells within a main reactor chamber, each of the plurality of fuel cells coupled in a cantilevered fashion at a first end to a substrate, the micro-scale reformer configured to receive a fuel/air mixture through an intake. The micro-power generator receives fuel and converts the fuel within the main reactor to a syngas through use of thermal partial oxidation without subsequent formation of soot, and then electrochemically converts the synthesis gas to generate electricity. The reform reaction is made self-sustaining, at least in part, by the heat introduced to the at least one reformer tube by waste gas expelled into the main reactor chamber when an equivalence ratio is maintained above a threshold ratio.