Patent ID: 7867664

Claim:
A diagnostic apparatus located external to a vehicle for diagnosing a state of a fuel cell on the vehicle, comprising: a fuel gas supply system fitting portion configured to connect to a fuel gas supply of the vehicle; a cooling system fitting portion configured to connect to a cooling unit of the vehicle; a power adjustment system fitting portion configured to connect to a power adjustment unit of the vehicle; a control unit connector for connecting via a communication port to a vehicle-operation control unit of the vehicle; a fuel gas supply unit, a power adjusting unit; a cooling unit; a control unit configured to change the operation state of the fuel cell of the vehicle, the control unit comprising: an operational state detecting portion which detects a change in an operational state of the fuel cell; an operation control portion which controls the vehicle-operation control unit of the vehicle such that the fuel cell in the vehicle is operated according to at least one predetermined operation pattern of a plurality of predetermined operation patterns, the predetermined operation pattern to apply at least one predetermined operating condition to change an operational state of the fuel cell; and a diagnostic portion which diagnoses the state of the fuel cell by comparing the change in the operational state of the fuel cell corresponding to the at least one predetermined operation pattern, which is detected by the operational state detecting portion when the fuel cell is operated by the operation control portion according to the at least one predetermined operation pattern, with a change in a normal operational state of a normally functioning fuel cell operated according to the same at least one predetermined operation pattern.