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Fuel Cells for Laptops Due Next Week
prostoalex writes "AVC and Antig Technology will demo a production-ready fuel cell for laptops next week on CeBIT trade show. According to PC Magazine, 'the CD-ROM size fuel cell will fit within the media bay of a notebook PC, replacing the drive with additional battery power.' The fuel cell battery will last 8 hours."
Seriously, what would be the travel restrictions with these? Will airlines (or more precisely the TSA) allow me onboard with, say a dozen of these? Or even just one?
You think them going from "laptops" to "notebooks" was just marketing strategy?
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
"There's no mention/plan on how to refill the thing."
That's a show-stopper for me. I'd love to be able to deploy robust and renewable energy sources for field research, and for Internet access in very remote areas. If I can refuel these things myself (even if that means buying some patent-pending refuelly whizbanger for a mere 42 gazillion bucks), then I'm very interested. But if it's not trivially refillable, it's worse than deadweight.
"Also, it weighs a lot - more than 3 lbs, which could almost double some laptops' overall weight."
That's not such a big deal for a lot of applications. True that the average travelling salesman will care a lot about even a few more pounds to schlepp through the airport. But I suspect this kind of technology will find a different niche at first: situations where the cost of generating electricity removes any advantage that a battery provides.
For example, I recently kept a laptop running for a week on a very remote island in the South Pacific (cue the Cast Away "Wilson?!?" jokes). In order to do so I had to haul a few truck batteries and a solar panel with me. If I could make do with a couple of fuel cells and a mini-still (there's lots of sugar cane handy) or even a jug of high-proof, I'd be able to keep the laptop running non-stop, and more efficiently than running a generator to charge batteries.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but...
HP made two versions of their HP zv5000 and Compaq R3000 notebooks two years ago, an Intel P4 version and an AMD Athlon 64 version. With a 12 cell battery, the AMD version gets 3-4 hours of battery life in average use. I was able to play just over 3 HOURS of DVD video on mine.
The P4 version gets about an hour. HP wisely decided to drop Intel CPUs from the following year's zv6000/R4000 lines.
So, substitute "Prescott-core P4" for "AMD64" in the parent post to make it a lot more accurate.
To everybody wondering about refilling the MeOH solution that these cells use - it probably won't be practical. The 'fuel' needs to be very pure, otherwise catalyst poisoning will destroy your very expensive fuel cell. I imagine swappable methanol cartridges just like AA batteries might be available - one day.
Wait until you see what happens with the water generated by these things...
Headline: Fuel Cells for Laptops Due Next Week
Subtitle: Embarrased-looking early adopters with warm wet spots in their laps due week after that
If these cells are not refillable, then they are useless for extended uses, such as the enormous power outages during the hurricanes last year. With a simple cheap windup or pump kinetic generator, then the fuel for this can be anything I like, such as muffalettas, marinated olives, or Jolt Cola.
For refilling, if there's a will, there will be a way to refill the cartridges (like the HP ink cartridges). The 3lbs weight is a problem to me. I have a Dell 700M with a removable bay, but the laptop itself is only 4 pounds. There's a reason why people stay away from desktop-replacments.
On the other hand, I can imagine a battery-renting business at the airport or converntion centers. You won't have to carry it or buy it, just rent it for 5 bucks to wait for your much-delayed flight. (Now a even better excuse for airlines delays!)
You're absolutely right on that... My laptop doesn't have a swappable drive bay (its slimline drive is "integrated," according to Acer), but it sure does use a power brick with a standard-looking barrel plug.
I think the main issue for people is that most don't want to have a big brick/box hanging off their laptop if they can avoid it.
But obviously if this fuel cell were integrated into an external box with a modular plug, then it would have applications outside of laptops - you could use it to power/charge a slew of other electronics (maybe my PDA, for instance). So your idea has my vote!