Patent ID: 8703349
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: H01M,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A fuel cell system of an anode dead end system, comprising: a fuel cell that generates an electric power using a fuel gas supplied to an anode thereof and air supplied to a cathode thereof; an exhaust mechanism that is connected to a downstream end of an anode gas flow channel and is capable of selecting an operation mode from among at least an exhaust mode in which a substantially smaller amount of gas than the amount of fuel gas consumed in said anode gas flow channel is discharged to an outside of the system and a closed mode in which communication between said anode gas flow channel and the outside of the system is blocked; detecting means for detecting a downstream flow of an impurity in said anode gas flow channel based on a physical quantity relating to a flow rate of the fuel gas in said anode gas flow channel and a physical quantity relating to a diffusion rate of the impurity in said anode gas flow channel; and controlling means programmed for controlling the operation of said exhaust mechanism such that said exhaust mode is selected when the magnitude of the downstream flow of the impurity meets a predetermined switching criterion and said closed mode is selected when the magnitude of the downstream flow of the impurity does not meet said switching criterion; wherein the predetermined switching criterion is met when a reference value calculated from a measurement value of the physical quality of the diffusion rate of the impurity is smaller than a comparison target value calculated from a measurement value of the physical quantity of the flow rate of the fuel gas; the physical quantity relating to the flow rate of the fuel gas includes a current value of said fuel cell and a gas pressure in said anode gas flow channel; and the physical quantity relating to the diffusion rate of the impurity includes a temperature of said fuel cell or a gas temperature in said anode gas flow channel and a gas pressure in said anode gas flow channel.