Patent ID: 7582370

Claim:
A fuel cell system including a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell configured with a fuel electrode, an oxidizer electrode, and a solid polymer membrane interposed therebetween, the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell being operative at a startup of the fuel cell system to enter a startup run of the fuel cell system, where the fuel electrode is supplied with hydrogen, and the oxidizer electrode is supplied with air at a reference flow to mature the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell into a power extractable state, the fuel cell system comprising: a hydrogen amount estimator configured to estimate an amount of hydrogen in the oxidizer electrode at the startup of the fuel cell system; a flow increment decider configured to decide an increment of a supply flow of air to the oxidizer electrode, depending on the estimated amount of hydrogen; and an air flow controller configured to control the supply flow of air to a sum of the reference flow and the decided increment for an interval of time from a commencement of air supply to the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell during the startup run of the fuel cell system.