Patent ID: 7306873

Claim:
A fuel cell including an electrolyte electrode assembly, and a pair of separators for sandwiching said electrolyte electrode assembly, said electrolyte electrode assembly including a pair of electrodes and an electrolyte interposed between said electrodes, said fuel cell further comprising: a plurality of fluid holes extending through said fuel cell for passing a fluid, which comprises at least one of an oxygen-containing gas, a fuel gas, and a coolant, through said fuel cell, wherein the plurality of fluid holes includes at least three fluid holes that are required for passing the fluid; at least one fluid flow field connectable to said fluid holes for causing said fluid to flow along a surface of said electrode; a switching mechanism for switching a supply pipe selectively to connect to one of said fluid holes to use as a fluid supply port for supplying said fluid to said fluid flow field or switching a discharge pipe selectively to one of said fluid holes to use as a fluid discharge port for discharging said fluid from said fluid flow field; and a controller that controls the switching mechanism to select a first fluid hole from said fluid holes as the fluid supply port and a second fluid hole from said fluid holes as the fluid discharge port, and to switch the fluid supply port from the first fluid hole or the fluid discharge port from the second fluid hole to a third fluid hole to change the flow direction of said fluid in said fluid flow field, while maintaining continuous flow of said fluid.