Patent ID: 7494730

Claim:
An apparatus for cooling a fuel cell, which generates power by supplying air and a fuel gas, having a circulation passage for circulating a cooling liquid between the fuel cell and a heat exchanger, the apparatus comprising: a cooling liquid storage container, which stores at least a portion of the cooling liquid circulating within said circulation passage, and which communicates with said circulation passage via a gas drawing passage and via a passage for returning the cooling liquid; a supply air pipe which supplies air into the fuel cell; an air pump for supplying the air to the fuel cell via the supply air pipe; and a signal pressure pipe connected to a downstream side of the air pump and the cooling liquid storage container so that said cooling liquid storage container communicates with the supply air pipe, means for changing a pressure within the signal pressure pipe by changing a rotation speed of the air pump, wherein said signal pressure pipe communicates with said cooling liquid storage container and said supply air pipe to direct a fuel gas in said cooling liquid storage container to said supply air pipe, and wherein the air incorporated into said signal pressure pipe from the supply air pipe is pushed back towards said supply air pipe to be exhausted in said supply air pipe when a pressure of the fuel gas separated from the cooling liquid flowing from the circulation passage through said gas drawing passage and stored in said cooling liquid storage container is higher than a pressure of the supply air within said supply air pipe.