STARTING DEVICE OF FUEL CELL

PURPOSE:To prevent the cell temperature from dropping than a specified heat retaining temperature of the cell and to prevent the deterioration in cell performance caused by change in electrolyte quality by circulating a heating medium in a bypass instead of a cell until the temperature of the heating medium becomes higher than a specified heat retaining temperature of a cell at the start of operation. CONSTITUTION:A bypass 6 connecting between an inlet pipe 5 and an outlet pipe 5' for a heating medium and change-over valves 7, 7' and 8 which operate the bypass 6 are arranged. Cell temperature t and heating medium temperature t' in a circulation path are detected with temperature detectors 9, 10 respectively, and detected signals are inputted in a controller 11 and compared to control the valves 7, 7'. At the start of operation, since the inlet valve 7 and the outlet valve 7' are closed and the bypass valve 8 is opened, the heating medium is circulated through the bypass instead of a cell. When the heating medium temperature becomes equal to or higher than a specified cell temperature, valves 7, 7' are opened and the bypass valve 8 is closed by the output signal from the controller 11, and the temperature is increased by the heating medium circulating in the cell.