Patent ID: 7887965

Claim:
A warm-up apparatus for a fuel cell comprising: a compressor for feeding supply gas to the fuel cell, the supply gas being compressed so that a temperature of the supply gas is elevated; a main passage connecting the compressor and the fuel cell and feeding the supply gas; an intercooler arranged in the main passage and cooling the supply gas; a humidifier arranged in the main passage and humidifying the supply gas; a bypass passage feeding the supply gas from the compressor to the fuel cell at a warming-up of the fuel cell while bypassing the intercooler and the humidifier, a cross-sectional area of the bypass passage being smaller than that of the main passage; and a controller is programmed to control the number of revolutions of the compressor; wherein, if a warm-up of the fuel cell is required and the supply gas flows through the bypass passage, the controller controls the compressor by setting the number of revolutions of the compressor to a predetermined value corresponding to a temperature of the fuel cell, with reference to a predetermined map in which the number of the revolutions of the compressor is set to be increased as the temperature of the fuel cell decreases, to feed the supply gas to the fuel cell, if a temperature of the supply gas fed to the fuel cell gets to an upper limit of a predetermined temperature for the supply gas fed to the fuel cell and exceeds a temperature sufficient for warming-up which is sufficient for warming-up the fuel cell, the controller controls the compressor by decreasing the number of revolutions of the compressor from the predetermined value so that the temperature of the supply gas does not exceed the temperature sufficient for warming-up, when the controller controls the compressor by the predetermined value of the revolution number, and the intercooler is arranged downstream of the compressor and the supply gas is air.