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Sony To Unveil New Fuel-Cell Prototype

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-power dept.

Nakeot writes "On Friday, Sony plans to unveil their newest portable fuel-cell technology, aimed at a variety of mobile applications. From the article: "The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery" and can "intelligently switch between power from the battery, fuel, or even both under high-draw circumstances." Sony intends to show off two models claimed to power your cell for a week or a month, respectively, as well as the latest developments with their sugar-batteries that can now run purely off your favorite cola beverage. This model builds on Sony's 2008 model, their first commercially-demonstratable prototype, and could make waves with Sony's OLED devices, but will Sony be able to avoid another battery recall?"

28 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Power my cell for a week by Aldur42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    My cell already lasts a week, but I think that's because no one calls

    --
    A complicated error is indistinguishable from a feature.
    1. Re:Power my cell for a week by Jangchub · · Score: 2, Funny

      Mine lasts at least a week; I too lack any human friends... Want to get together over beers?

    2. Re:Power my cell for a week by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wowie, yours too! Let's get together over beers and then shove greased-up yoda dolls up our asses while watching 300!

      Didn't we just do that last week?

    3. Re:Power my cell for a week by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 2

      with their sugar-batteries that can now run purely off your favorite cola beverage

      And you should be able to spill that beer on your cellphone, and it will run even longer!

      Although maybe a rum and coke has more sugar in it than beer......

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  2. These are still vapor by sirwired · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We have been hearing about fuel cells "just around the corner" for a freakin' decade now. I think you can put them in the same corner as Duke Nukem Forever and that Holographic Storage thing that keeps popping up on Slashdot.

    SirWired

    1. Re:These are still vapor by Eziril · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are many corners to pass for a technology to become mainstream. Fuel Cells have already passed several of these. They've gone from an idea on a blackboard, to a gadget in a lab, and now multiple large companies have put out prototype devices. The Honda fcx clarity car being and portable batteries being just two. Fuel cell buses are already prowling the streets of several cities. Probably the biggest advances yet to come are cost, large scale production, and wide scale distribution of fuel for the fuel cells. The fact is fuel cells are here now and already working hard, they just need more improvements to be mainstream.

      --
      Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14 percent of all people know that. --Homer Simpson
    2. Re:These are still vapor by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think you can put them in the same corner as Duke Nukem Forever

      NOTHING can be in the same corner as Duke Nukem Forever. In Vegas the odds would be better of Elvis riding towards Caesars Palace on a Unicorn, on a rainbow, with a horde of screaming Leprechauns chasing after him pissed because he stole the pot of gold. Ohhh, and Elvis would have TITS. Big Ones.

    3. Re:These are still vapor by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem is a lot of things fall at one of the hurdles to becoming ubiquitous.

      E.g. Field Emissions Displays looked promising a few years back and I thought they'd end up being used in pretty much all TVs. Oddly enough LCDs which back then were crap and expensive have ended up being good and cheap and have replaced CRTs almost completely.

      I thought the same thing would happen with Plasma v LCD, but it seems to have peaked. It's still quite possible OLEDs will stay in the niche market of small screens for PMPs and never manage to compete with LCDs. Like ePaper

      Similarly with batteries if you read the technical media from a few years back there were loads of promising technologies that never made it.

      Basically it seems like in each area dozens of technologies get to the demo stage, less make it to the niche product stage (e.g. ePaper ebook readers or OLED screens on PMPs) and maybe one or two become ubiquitous until they are dethroned (CRTs and then LCD/Plasma)

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    4. Re:These are still vapor by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Top Grear crew are not exactly a bunch of tree-huggers, yet even they have repeatedly called it the most important car in 100yrs.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    5. Re:These are still vapor by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Insightful
      with a horde of screaming Leprechauns chasing after him pissed because he stole the pot of gold.

      He ate all their bacon and peanut butter and banana sandwiches, too.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  3. Big Bang Theory by owlnation · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Sony intends to show off two models claimed to power your cell for a week or a month"

    ... or until it explodes in a ball of fire, like their previous batteries.

  4. So it can both explode and catch fire.. by shankarunni · · Score: 2, Funny

    From the article:

    > The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery

  5. The downside... by KingSkippus · · Score: 2, Funny

    The only downside is that since it's from Sony, it installs a rootkit on your cellphone that keeps you from copying pictures you take on it to your computer...

    (Yes, I'm still holding that grudge. Such is the PR price a company pays for being so mind-numbingly stupid.)

    1. Re:The downside... by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Informative

      The only downside is that since it's from Sony, it installs a rootkit on your cellphone that keeps you from copying pictures you take on it to your computer...

      I believe that Verizon Wireless already has prior art on that one ;)

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:The downside... by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      (Yes, I'm still holding that grudge. Such is the PR price a company pays for being so mind-numbingly stupid.)

      Your not the only one holding that grudge. Just like you I bring it up every single time I can. I'll release my grudge when some Sony executives go to prison.

      I also object to the word stupidity. I honestly believe it was downright maliciousness and their actions were not without intelligence. They knew exactly what they were doing and thought they had the rights to do it. That was not stupid. It was evil. Calling them stupid makes them out to be fools and somehow deserving of our compassion for just being simple idiots.

      In EVERY other single case of a rootkit being installed on consumers systems without their knowledge, there WOULD be a criminal court case. Sony does it.... nothing.

    3. Re:The downside... by FlyingBishop · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A rootkit is the very definition of "gaining access to a computer system without authorization."

      They quite literally hacked into their customers' computers without their knowledge. How is that not criminal?

    4. Re:The downside... by Linker3000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am just waiting to see what kind of 'nearly-the-same-as-all-other-power-connectors-but-slightly different-so-you-need-to-buy-Sony-originals-and-nothing-else-will-fit' they come up with this time.

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
  6. Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Zymergy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not sure this is the best alcohol fuel to oxidize (burn) in a fuel cell use? http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/14280.htm
    Ethanol is a less toxic and less reactive to metals (and much safer) alcohol to use. https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/89308.htm
    From another methanol MSDS: "Releases flammable vapors below ambient temperatures. When mixed with air and exposed to ignition source, vapors can burn in open or explode if confined. Mixtures with water and as little as 21% (by vol.) methanol are still flammable (flash point less than 104F). Under some circumstances, may corrode certain metals, including aluminum and zinc and generate hydrogen gas. A methanol fire may not be visible to the naked eye."

    Aren't many laptops made of aluminum and zinc and magnesium? What happens when the lithium battery decides to cook off? Hummmm?
    (In any case, I am sure the TSA will let us all board planes with our alcohol-fueled laptops.)

    1. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by billsnow · · Score: 2, Informative

      you can make ethanol non-drinkable (and toxic) by adding a bit of methanol. It's called denatured alcohol. 100 percent ethanol is used as a fuel in many applications. I've used both methanol and ethanol for fueling my backpacking stoves. Ethanol has a slightly higher energy density (more joules per gram); methanol is slightly more volatile (ignites more easily). Ethanol has the edge for camping in the backcountry because I can mix it with lemonade packets for a cocktail. Methanol would make me vomit (or die if I took enough).

      If I had to guess why methanol is used instead of ethanol: it's cheaper. It's also possible that the volatility of methanol (compared to ethanol) makes it a more suitable fuel for the technology (fuel cell).

      Why suggest we use a fuel because it's non-toxic? Are there confused people at the gas pump trying to drink from the hose?

    2. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 5, Informative

      (I study this for a living.)

      Methanol is better because there aren't any carbon-carbon bonds to cleave. This makes it easier to find catalysts that will functionally convert it into CO2 and H+ ions. Smaller molecules are just generally simpler to work with.

      In the end, methanol based fuel cells exist. Ethanol based fuel cells don't. I'm working on it, but it'll be a while =)

      As far as safety, methanol is mostly dangerous because if it is ingested or inhaled, it will be converted into formaldehyde in the body and cause blindness. Methanol is not particularly more corrosive than ethanol/water, and while it has a lower vapor pressure than ethanol, the quantity of methanol present in a battery form factor is likely to be far too small to produce a serious hazard.

    3. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um, they limit it to 85% because if it's higher than that, most gasoline internal combustion engines will not be able to ignite it. In many cars, it's limited to 10% because the O-rings will degrade in the presence of ethanol.

      Further, getting ethanol higher than 90% is extremely expensive and typically requires adding toxic chemicals such as benzene. ...

    4. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ethanol always has methanol in it. In the presence of ethanol, methanol is not toxic because the ethanol prevents it from being converted into formaldehyde. The treatment for methanol poisoning is an ethanol drip.

      Methanol is used because ethanol fuel cells don't exist technologically yet. Methanol is a much simpler molecule.

      Methanol is more toxic than gasoline in the sense that methanol has a very low vapor pressure and so if there were a spill in an enclosed area, you would breathe in a good amount of it, which could cause blindness.

    5. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sorry, apparently my first paragraph is based on an urban legend, not facts. Ethanol does usually have a very tiny amount of methanol in it, and ethanol will compete for the alcohol dehydrogenase that will make the methanol toxic, but ethanol is not sufficient treatment by itself to make the methanol safe.

      I think. I'm not totally sure I trust wikipedia more than the postdocs in my lab. Meh. Better safe than sorry though.

    6. Re:Methanol is toxic and reacts with metals... by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2, Informative

      The important part about the 96% limit is that it is the maximum obtainable by distillation. If you achieve >96% by use of chemicals it is easy to maintain it at that level by putting it in a sealed bottle which prevents it absorbing water vapour from the air.

  7. Can't fly with it by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 2, Informative

    Methanol makes a fine carrier for hydrogen. Too bad it's also used in lighter fluid, as in charcoal grill lighter fluid. In the picture, you can see the little tank in the cell that contains the methanol. It's pretty. Very stylish. And guaranteed to make Homeland Security put you in a small room for several hours.

    Ok, so you never take it on an airplane. I know! Let's take it to school! 'cause kids listen to MP3s a whole lot on the school bus and wandering around between classes and during class (even though they're not supposed to). "Student expelled for bringing flammable materials^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H a BOMB to school" - headline coming to a slashdot near you. "'It's just my MP3 player!' says student, now permanently on a Homeland Security watchlist."

    Ok, so you can never take it to school. I know! Let's use it at home! 'cause surely we can listen to our MP3s in the safety of our own bedrooms. "Rash of house fires sweeps nation" - headline coming to a slashdot near you. "Fire marshals report MP3 players dropped and broken when stepped on is soaking carpets in alcohol and igniting by their own shattered electronics."

    Yes, hydrogen is a slippery element. Yes, it's hard to contain it. Yes, it'd be nice if portable electronics had better batteries. No, I don't think a methanol fuel cell is going to solve the problem...

    1. Re:Can't fly with it by TheTurtlesMoves · · Score: 2, Informative

      And yet we can take Li based batteries onto planes that have a history of starting fires.

      Once enough people want it, especially business people who want to use their laptops on longer flights. Then the airlines push back, and usually get their way. At the end of the day, you can't cost the airlines too much money up front.

      --
      The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
  8. OLD/Dupe...The Onion already had this story by CySurflex · · Score: 5, Funny

    The onion already had this story several weeks ago:

    Sony Releases New Stupid Piece of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work
    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of

  9. That's actually not very good... by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...Considering most recent cell phone batteries will already last 3-4 days. And does it have enough current capacity to RUN the cell phone, replacing the current battery?