Monday, February 13, 2006
Dont Throw Away Your Laptop Batteries Just Yet....
What is a Fuel Cell? How does it work?
Fuel Cell is an electrochemical device, producing electricity from an external fuel supply of Hydrogen and Oxygen. This fuel cell produces electricity and Water as the by-products. As long as the fuel supply is maintained, it continues to produce electricity. Unlike a battery, where it is limited by storage capacity.
DMFC - Direct Methanol Fuel Cell
This is less complicated as Methanol is fed directly, unlike Hydrogen which needs to be stored at high pressure. The energy density of Methanol is greater than Hydrogen. Companies like NEC, Toshiba, Sanyo, Hitachi and Panasonic are developing DMFCs to power laptops upto about 20 hours!! 20 hours!!!, looks like good bye to batteries.
Don't throw away your batteries just yet. There are several issues yet to be resolved by the manufacturers. Methanol is flammable liquid and is Toxic. You cannot carry it in an airplane. Due to the use of Platinum as a catalyst, these tend to be very expensive. More expensive than the laptop it is supposed to power. It will be expensive until, DMFCs become commercialized.
So, dont throw away your laptop batteries just yet.
Fuel Cell is an electrochemical device, producing electricity from an external fuel supply of Hydrogen and Oxygen. This fuel cell produces electricity and Water as the by-products. As long as the fuel supply is maintained, it continues to produce electricity. Unlike a battery, where it is limited by storage capacity.
DMFC - Direct Methanol Fuel Cell
This is less complicated as Methanol is fed directly, unlike Hydrogen which needs to be stored at high pressure. The energy density of Methanol is greater than Hydrogen. Companies like NEC, Toshiba, Sanyo, Hitachi and Panasonic are developing DMFCs to power laptops upto about 20 hours!! 20 hours!!!, looks like good bye to batteries.
Don't throw away your batteries just yet. There are several issues yet to be resolved by the manufacturers. Methanol is flammable liquid and is Toxic. You cannot carry it in an airplane. Due to the use of Platinum as a catalyst, these tend to be very expensive. More expensive than the laptop it is supposed to power. It will be expensive until, DMFCs become commercialized.
So, dont throw away your laptop batteries just yet.
