Patent ID: 8216730

Claim:
A fuel cell system comprising: a fuel cell; a fuel gas piping system configured to supply a fuel gas to the fuel cell; an oxidizing gas piping system configured to supply an oxidizing gas to the fuel cell; and a control section programmed to monitor and to control the state of the fuel cell, wherein the control section includes: an impedance measuring section programmed to intermittently measure the impedance of the fuel cell after a stop of power generation by the fuel cell, a scavenging process control section programmed to control the oxidizing gas piping system so as to execute the scavenging process of discharging a water content in the fuel cell from the system in accordance with the measured impedance, and a fuel gas control section programmed to control the fuel gas piping system so as to intermittently supply the fuel gas to the fuel cell during the scavenging process of the fuel cell.