Patent ID: 7189467

Claim:
A control device for a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell acting as a power source, the control device comprising: a heater for heating water in the fuel cell system; a user interface allowing a user to command a scheduled start-up date-time to a controller; and the controller for controlling the operation of the heater and a startup and shutdown operations of the fuel cell system, the controller comprising a historical external temperature data for a period prior to a shutdown of the fuel cell system; the controller functioning to: calculate temperature maintenance energy, wherein the temperature maintenance energy is the energy consumed by the heater in order to maintain water in the fuel cell system to a first predetermined temperature in a period after the shutdown of the fuel cell system until the scheduled start-up date-time; predict an external temperature for the scheduled start-up date-time based on the historical external temperature data; calculate defrost start-up energy, wherein the defrost start-up energy is the energy consumed by the heater in order to heat water in the fuel cell system to a second predetermined temperature when the fuel cell system undergoes the start-up operation, the calculation being performed based on the predicted external temperature for the scheduled start-up date-time; compare the temperature maintenance energy and the defrost start-up energy; and control the heater to maintain water in the fuel cell system to the first predetermined temperature in a period after the shutdown of the fuel cell system until the scheduled start-up date-time if the temperature maintenance energy is smaller than or equal to the defrost start-up energy, and control the heater to heat water in the fuel cell system to the second predetermined temperature when the fuel cell system is started up if the temperature maintenance energy is greater than the defrost start-up energy.