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Message 6024481
Cell phone battery may soon be the talk of the town
Douglas Page
883 Words
5901 Characters
10/11/98
Electronics Now
20
Copyright UMI Company 1998. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright Gernsback Publications, Incorporated Oct 1998
A new power source for cellular phones, portable computers, and
other portable electronic devices promises to deliver power up to 50
times longer than standard nickelcadmium (NiCd) batteries.
Following a long-time dream of electrochemists to create electric
power from hydrocarbon fuel, Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist
* Bob Hockaday has engineered the prototype of a miniature methanol
fuel cell in his basement lab. Financial backing has been arranged
to develop a manufacturing prototype. The battery, which he calls
the Micro-Fuel Cell, is similar in size and price but just half the
weight of conventional batteries. It is expected to have a major
impact on the $1 billion a year portable-phone battery market. The
new product could be on store shelves as soon as the end of 1999.
Keep on Talking
* Hockaday's methanol fuel cell runs at room temperature like other
batteries and will produce power at levels needed to operate a
cellular phone-three-tenths of a watt in standby mode and four watts
for talking.
The new micro-methanol cell has no moving parts and no metals to
wear out and is expected to last at least 20 years, whereas most
conventional batteries wear out after two years. More energy means
users can leave their phones on for as long as two weeks, not just
one day, and can talk for up to 100 hours, compared to just two hours
with current battery technology. Refueling the micro-methanol cell
is as rapid and simple as pouring in 1.5 ounces of inexpensive
methanol, instead of waiting several hours for recharging.
* "That's the nature of hydrocarbon fuels," said Hockaday, who holds
two international patents, three domestic patents, and has a fourth
domestic patent pending. "You can carry more energy per pound.
That's why biological systems run on them."
Fuel cells work by converting the chemical energy in a fuel such
as methanol to electrical energy by creating a circuit through which
electrons in the fuel travel from a negative to a positive, or
oxidizing, electrode. The new cells are non-bipolar; that is, the
positive electrodes are all on one side and the negative electrodes
are on the opposite side. The electrodes provide elementary
connections at low power. Getting more power is a simple matter of
stacking the fuel cells.
* Hockaday says manufacturing will be simple. The same lithography
technology used to manufacture printed circuit boards can be used to
print fuel cell elements. Millions of the elements can be printed on
a single sheet of plastic.
The device is also safe for the environment, presenting none of
the environmental headaches of current batteries. "This thing is
* practically edible," Hockaday jokes. The only waste products are
water vapor and carbon dioxide. Nickelcadmium batteries, on the
other hand, can be toxic to humans. When disposed of improperly and
the casings degrade, cadmium leaches into the surrounding
environment, threatening eventually to reach ground water. Exposure
to too much cadmium, for instance, can cause liver and kidney damage.
* Hockaday began his fuel cell work 10 years ago. He came up with
the idea of micro-engineering fuel cells and using the same type of
silicon-chip miniaturization and materials technology that
transformed computers from big boxes to laptop platforms. Convinced
his patented technology could have a major impact on the multi-
* billion dollar U.S. cellular phone market, Hockaday created his own
company, Energy Related Devices, and in 1994 took entrepreneurial
leave from Los Alamos to devote full time to the research. He
estimates he has spent $25,000 a year on the equipment that fills the
lab beneath the kitchen of his Los Alamos home. Through a
cooperative research and development agreement, LANL has provided
* technical help as Hockaday continued improvements of the fuel cell.
* ROBERT HOCKADAY AND HIS FUEL CELL in his basement laboratory. The
project will soon move to larger quarters to complete work on the
manufacturing prototype.
"We're at the point that it really does work. We have a working
* device," Hockaday said. "We call it proof of principal. Now it's
just a matter of brute force engineering to crank it up."
Coming to Market
LANEs Civilian and Industrial Technologies Program Office
* introduced Hockaday to investor Marvin Maslow, who set up Manhattan
* Scientifics to back Hockaday. Maslow's investment will allow
* Hockaday to move his lab out of the basement into a larger facility
to complete work on the manufacturing prototype. Maslow said he
* plans to work with Hockaday to create alliances with Fortune 100
companies that can bring the product to market quickly.
THE METHANOL FUEL CELL has no moving parts, is safe for the
environment, will last 20 years, and can power a telephone for over
100 hours of talk time between recharges.
"The weak link in the chain of electronic devices is the battery,"
Maslow said. "If the micro-fuel cell invention does what we think it
will, it will have a profound impact on people's lives around the
globe. The marketplace for this invention is vast."
* Next on the horizon for Hockaday are micro-fuel cells for portable
computers, which need about 30 watts of power, and other low-draw
electronic devices. The military is also interested in using the
cell for some of its electrical devices, such as laser sights on
rifles or nightvision goggles.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Manhattan Scientifics, Inc.
2 Penn Plaza, Suite 640
New York, NY 10121
Web: www.manhattsci.com
I0607 * End of document.
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