A fuel cell system made up of a plurality of fuel cells. Each cell includes a
fuel
inlet, an oxidant inlet, a fuel side product outlet and an oxidant side product
outlet. A common fuel supply line is provided for the fuel inlets. A common oxidant
supply line is provided for the oxidant inlets. A common product purging mechanism
is coupled to the outlets for purging the same of unused fuel, unused oxidant,
fuel side product and oxidant side product. The product purging mechanism includes
valving structure operable to selectively and independently open the outlets of
a given cell. A method for operating such a fuel cell system includes supplying
fuel to the fuel inlets from a common source of fuel and supplying an oxidant to
the oxidant inlets from a common source of oxidant. The outlets of a given cell
are selectively opened to purge fuel product and oxidant product from the given
cell while the outlets of other cells are kept closed.
