Patent ID: 8039159

Claim:
A fuel cell, comprising: a fuel cell stack for generating power and consuming a fuel therein; a buffer that supplies the fuel to the fuel cell stack and that stores at least a predetermined amount of the fuel for the fuel cell stack; an actuator that provides the fuel to the buffer through a fuel diffusion plate attached to a side of the buffer; and a control circuit that controls an amount of the fuel supplied from the actuator to the buffer such that the buffer stores at least the predetermined amount of the fuel for the fuel cell stack, wherein: the control circuit controls an operation of the actuator according to a reference resistance value and a resistance value, and the resistance value corresponds to a volume of the fuel disposed in the buffer and is based on a current flowing through the buffer when a predetermined voltage is applied to at least two electrodes spaced apart in the buffer on the side of the buffer having the fuel diffusion plate attached thereto.