Patent ID: 8691461

Claim:
A fuel cell system comprising: a fuel cell that includes a plurality of stacked cells for generating power by an electrochemical reaction between fuel gas and oxidant gas; a pressure adjusting valve that is disposed between a fuel tank and a fuel gas inlet of the fuel cell for adjusting a gas pressure at the fuel gas inlet; a gas circulation pump that circulates reacted fuel gas from a fuel gas outlet of the fuel cell to the fuel gas inlet; a cell voltage acquisition unit that acquires a voltage of each of the cells; and a controller programmed to perform a start-up and a stop of the gas circulation pump and adjusts an open degree of the pressure adjusting valve, wherein the controller comprises: a clog determination unit that, at a start of the fuel cell, introduces the fuel gas into the fuel gas inlet while adjusting the open degree of the pressure adjusting valve to control the gas pressure at the fuel gas inlet to be a first pressure, starts the fuel gas circulation pump, and determines that a clog is present in a fuel gas flow channel inside the fuel cell when at least one voltage of each of the cells acquired by the cell voltage acquisition unit is lower than a predetermined voltage; and a clog elimination unit that removes the clog of the fuel gas flow channel when the clog determination unit has determined that the clog is present in the fuel gas flow channel, by adjusting the open degree of the pressure adjusting valve, introducing the fuel gas into the fuel gas inlet to control the gas pressure at the fuel gas inlet to be a second pressure which is higher than the first pressure, and stopping the fuel gas circulation pump.