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Toshiba Develops World's Smallest Fuel Cells

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the anti-freeze-power dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When you think of Toshiba, you might think of notebooks, but fuel cells? Never. Well, at least not until up to now. Toshiba claims to have made the world's smallest fuel cell to date. The direct methanol fuel cell can fit inside of the smallest of gadgets, ranging from MP3 Players to portal DVD Players. Most fuel cells require a pump that can mix the methanol and water, and a fan to help cool the pump. This makes installing fuel cells in smaller items out of the question. However, Toshiba's new fuel cell does not require a fan or a pump to operate, which means it's much smaller in size, and can be installed in almost any small device."

5 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Not smallest by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Informative

    Motorola designed this sort of thing in 2000, and it's smaller.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  2. Picture of fuel cell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    DPReview has a pic of it.

    http://www.dpreview.com/news/0406/04062401toshib af uel.asp

  3. Re:What About Refills? by FreeLinux · · Score: 5, Informative

    Perhaps a RTFA is in order.

    The tiny fuel cell uses 2cc of concentrated methanol to provide 20 hours of power at 100 milliwatts, max.

    With regard to refilling. This will be done with a can of compressed methanol. Simply plug the can into the cell for a few seconds and you're good to go for another 20 hours. This process will be very similar to the way that butane cigarette lighters are refilled and have been for more than 30 years. Just for the record, butane is much more flamable/explosive than methanol. Yet, when last did you read of a can of butane or a refillable cigarette lighter exploding?

  4. Fuel Cell Today - Good source of Fuel Cell news by MazTaim · · Score: 5, Informative

    Along with yet another article regarding Toshiba's new fuel cell, Fuel Cell Today has some other interesting news items regarding Fuel Cell technology worth reading.

  5. Take that warning seriously! by Kiyooka · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the curious: don't try it. I used to work for a battery manufacturer. Suffice it to say that if one of the chemical tanks were to rupture, they would have had to evacuate most of that city immediately because of the toxic gas. And that's just one ingredient.

    Trust me, it's not worth it, even if you're curious. You might regret it for the rest of your (short?) life!