Patent 7086853 was granted and assigned to NISSAN MOTOR CO.,LTD. on August, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A combustor having a filter used to trap soot generated during its operation that is arranged upstream of a fuel reformer, is disclosed. During a startup period, the combustor functions to regenerate the filter by burning the trapped soot with a lean fuel-air mixture thereby regenerating the filter while continuously heating downstream components.