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Mobile Fuel Cells Soon?
Mark Leaman writes "Motorola has made a strategic investment in Vancouver based, micro fuel cell developer Tekion with a view to the inevitable rise of the fuel cell as a power source for mobile products. Tekion is creating a new "personal power source", known as the Formira Power Pack, that will fit inside mobile products and enable consumers to stay connected for as long as needed. "
will . . . enable consumers to stay connected for as long as needed.
The problem is this: battery life is never long enough. This is true for three reasons. First, as battery life improves, consumers come to expect more. Second, electronics manufacturers will see the marketing opportunity in "we have the smallest $gadget on the market", and will put in the smallest acceptable battery. Third, as we have seen with computers, manufacturers will continue to pack (some useful, many not) features, sapping that additional power.
Granted, fuel cells have considerable energy-density advantages over current chemical cells, but it will never be enough until we have devices that will *never* need a recharge, battery replacement, or refill.
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Honestly, if 1.5hrs talk time on a cellphone is too little for you, then you made a poor choice when deciding which phone to get (ie the features vs battery life dilemna). I keep my old feature-free Nokia 6310i for when I just need a phone, and my nice shiny new 6680 for when I want to pose with a fun gadget.
We've already had batteries exploding in Nokia phones, can you imagine it with fuel cells - "Oh, the Humanity!".
Jolyon
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Don't those fuel cells (which iirc commonly work on hydrogen and oxygen) produce water? So you're going to be walking around with a wet spot in your pants...
Is that your phone or are you happy to see me?
I'd like to think that one benefit of a fuel cell is that it can be recharged more rapidly. Given the choice between an 8-hour traditional battery that needs me to be tethered while it's charged, and a fuel cell with a 2-hour life that can be recharged in 2 minutes from a bottle, I'll go for the fuel cell. For most people, it's not battery life that's the problem, it's recharge time.
Our technology uses Formira(TM) as a fuel (as opposed to methanol which is used by most other micro fuel cell developers). Formira(TM) is purified and modified formic acid. Formic acid is abundant in nature and its name was derived from the scientific name for the red ant, Formica Rufa, which produces it in large quantities. The high power capability and simple chemistry of Formira(TM) fuel cells allow us to build a product that is less complex than methanol systems and actually fits within portable devices.
It is interesting that a fuel cell that is very technologically advanced uses formic acid, a chemical produced by one of the smallest of animals, the ant. How many other innovations can be derived from studying the chemical processes in nature?
Nowhere on the Tekion site does it say how long the cell lasts, but from the chart shown here: http://www.tekion.com/business/index.htm you can derive that it will be at least twice as long as a conventional Li Ion battery. Excellent work!
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Boy, that's a light press release. The main question is unanswered: what does it use for fuel? Gin? Composted elderberries? It says "non-flmmable." Does that mean that the fuel cell itself won't catch fire while you're using it? Does it require a handy liquid-hydrogen refill tank?
And what the HELL is the deal with the light-blue on white typeface?
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Even if something like this isn't as portable as modern flip phones, it could still mean the difference between communicating, and not being able to when electricity from the wall
You just need a big supply of "highly purified and modified formic acid" and off you go! This sounds suspiciously like inkjet cartridges to me.
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I was at AIChE 2005 (Chemical Engineering stuff if you don't bother to click the link), and followed the fuel-cell topical. These cells did make a few appearances (also last year in Austin already).
The cell is being researched by professor Richard Masel and his group. It has a relatively low power density, but that's enough for mobile electronics (no, it will not be usable on cars). The reason Masel's group is the only one working on these is that previous results discredited formic acid as a fuel, but Masel's group found out that they were using the wrong catalyst: platinum was being used (as in any other fuel cell), but for formic acid the correct one was actually palladium. Apparently, formic acid has much less problems in membrane permeation than methanol (that is, it does not burn without you using it), and has already passed tests of over 2500 consecutive hours of power production without failure.
Masel actually complained a bit that this very press release had been delayed one week, last week he could have had the press release at the same time of the conference, and could have mentioned the name of Motorola explicitly.
Another curious fact is that probably everybody of you reading has eaten some formic acid (it's in various foods), even if the high concentration at which it is used in fuel cells makes it unsuitable for a snack (it is actually going to be "burn" the skin).
For those interested, here are some abstracts: Present Status of Formic Acid Fuel Cells, High Performing Air Breathing Passive Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell (Dfafc), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Mri) Microscopy of Operating Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell (Dfafc), Formic Acid Electro-Oxidation by Pd: Particle Size Effects. Proceedings are however not free for the taking, and one has to buy the CD (135 $). No guarantee they contain anything more than the abstracts for the given papers, however.
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