Patent ID: 8268496

Claim:
A control method for controlling a fuel cell system, the fuel cell comprising: a fuel cell generating electric power by chemically reacting cathode gas with anode gas, a cathode gas supply unit supplying cathode gas to a cathode side of the fuel cell, and an anode gas supply unit supplying anode gas to an anode side of the fuel cell, wherein the control method comprises: a low temperature startup determination step for determining whether to perform low temperature startup or normal startup on the fuel cell based on information regarding the temperature of the fuel cell when starting up fuel cell, and an anode gas replacing step for replacing gas retained in the fuel cell by supplying additional anode gas from the anode gas supply unit to the anode side of the fuel cell, wherein in the anode gas replacing step, the pressure of additional anode gas to be supplied from the anode gas supply unit decreases, and the total replacing amount of gas retained in the fuel cell increases prior to the flow of a current in the fuel cell in a case of performing low temperature start up on the fuel cell, as compared with a case of performing normal startup on the fuel cell.