Digital Camera Powered By a Fuel Cell

An anonymous reader notes a development from the world of photography that could spread to notebooks and cell phones. Canon has filed for a patent on a fuel cell-powered DSLR. The fuel cell would power not only the camera body but also all accessories attached to it, doing away with the need to power flashes (for example) with AA or other batteries. The patent covers other electronic devices generally, but is clearly directed toward DSLR cameras, given the diagrams and examples used. "Canon continues to push its fuel cell development by devising a method for powering not only the internal DSLR body electronics, but also external components such as lenses and hotshoe flashes."

Comments

Patent is about the connectors

[quitte]

The fuel cell would power not only the camera body but also all accessories attached to it

looking at the picture I'm pretty sure that's not what the patent covers. Instead all accessory will include it's own fuel cell.

The patent is about distributing the H2 to the different attachments.

Re:A patent for what?

[CaptainPatent]

Unless they have a new type of fuel cell, what gives them the ability to patent "using a fuel cell in a camera"

Nobody has said anything about their ability to patent a fuel cell powered camera. The summary incorrectly says "patent" when it is actually an application which has not yet been examined.

as a patent examiner, I'm not allowed to post my opinion of patentability, but I will say that most cases are heavily modified from their original application form as this one is in now.

Re:oh boy

[Facegarden]

...As for fuel cells, you better have special ordered a new one if you run out cuz you can't recharge it like a lithium one or run to a gas station to get more like AAs.

From everything i've seen about fuel cells, when they get low you just refill them with alcohol or whatever fuel they use, which only takes a few seconds. You don't have to "special order a new one" when it runs low... Where did you even get that information? Did you honestly think this was a non-replenishable technology?
-Taylor

This is not a patent

[CaptainPatent]

The summary is incorrect - this is a patent application. It has not yet been examined in any way shape or form. I can't give my own opinion of patentability because I am an examiner, but I can say that due to obviousness requirements produced by KSR v. Teleflex the combination of a known object (such as a power source) to another known object (such as a camera) for the same purpose as provided by the original object (such as providing power) is considered obvious - and therefore not patentable.

Re:A patent for what?

[SmokeSerpent]

That's what I thought too, until I looked at the diagram in the article. Instead of generating all the power in the camera and sending electricity to the attached devices, they are pumping fuel from the tank in the camera to individual fuel cells in each device. That's what the patent covers, not just "insert powerplant x into device y, patent, license, profit".

Seems kinda loony and ass-backwards, but it's definitely a unique idea I suppose. I still don't know if it satisfies my definition of non-obvious. One assumes an engineer came up with this when faced with the problem about how to provide enough power for arbitrary configurations without wasting fuel generating power that doesn't get used.

Re:oh boy

[MrNaz]

No.

"Fuel cell" refers to the module in which a membrane allows the following reaction to occur:

2H2 + 02 = 2H20

Or some variant if the reagent H2 source is a hydrocarbon.

A fuel cell will always have a reservoir of fuel, as will any engine or energy output mechanism. Thus a fuel cell can have a refillable "fuel tank" in which the user just ads the H2 source fuel, be it alcohol or some other liquid hydrocarbon.

Re:oh boy

[Facegarden]

The whole idea behind a fuel cell is the factory fills it up and then you use it until it's empty and swap it out and the factory refils it.

That's just wrong, sorry. The whole idea behind a fuel cell is that it's like a battery only you fill it with fuel instead of recharging it, and they last much longer in between fillings than a a battery does between charges. Fuel cells are generally intended to be quickly refilled by the user. There are variations on the concept but that's the most common scenario. Quick refilling is one of the two main advantages of fuel cells, yet you seem to have missed that...
-Taylor