Patent ID: 7871730

Claim:
A fuel cell formed by alternately stacking a group of electrolyte electrode assemblies and a separator, each of the electrolyte electrode assemblies including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte interposed between said anode and said cathode, said separator consisting of a single plate having a plurality of sandwiching sections, each of the electrolyte electrode assemblies being sandwiched between one of the sandwiching sections of one separator and one of the sandwiching sections of an adjacent separator, said fuel cell comprising: a fuel gas channel provided on one surface of said separator for supplying a fuel gas along an electrode surface of said anode; an oxygen-containing gas channel provided on the other surface of said separator for supplying an oxygen-containing gas along an electrode surface of said cathode; a fuel gas supply channel provided on the one surface or on the other surface of said separator, and connected to a fuel gas supply unit and a fuel gas inlet for supplying the fuel gas into the fuel gas channel; and an exhaust gas channel for discharging the fuel gas and the oxygen-containing gas consumed in the reaction in said electrolyte electrode assembly as an exhaust gas in a stacking direction of said electrolyte electrode assembly and said separators, wherein said fuel gas supply channel includes a filter mechanism for filtering the fuel gas supplied from said fuel gas supply unit; said filter mechanism is provided within the fuel cell stack and includes a hole for allowing the fuel gas to flow therethrough, and a cross sectional area of an opening of said hole is smaller than a cross sectional area of an opening of said fuel gas inlet; said fuel gas supply unit for supplying the fuel gas before consumption in the stacking direction is provided hermetically inside said exhaust gas channel; and said fuel gas supply channel connects said fuel gas channel and said fuel gas supply unit, and is provided along the separator surface to intersect said exhaust gas channel extending in the stacking direction.