i really hope that seto has this item in late development or they will be making bateries no body wants .. this on comes out this fall
To: CIMA (395 )
From: Gerald Thomas
Thursday, Jun 3 1999 9:17PM ET
Reply # of 399
from website...
Summary of Presentations By Robert Hockaday,
Chief Fuel Cell Scientist, Manhattan Scientifics, Inc.
Overview
In late April, 1999, Robert Hockaday gave a presentation in Bethesda,
Maryland USA, at the first-ever organized conference specifically devoted to
the smaller applications of fuel cells and alternative power sources. His talk
discussed how development of Manhattan Scientifics' patented Micro-Fuel
Cell™ technology has evolved to match the demands of the portable
electronics market, in particular cellular telephones.
Following his talk, Robert Hockaday participated in a panel discussion with
representatives from Dell Computer (Deepack Swamy), the United States
Department of Transportation (Charles Ke), Motorola (Lynn Davis), and
Ericsson (Chris Turner). The session chairman was Chris Dyer from
Motorola.
The summary below reflects the main ideas that were presented in
Bethesda. Manhattan Scientifics has made some editing changes, and
added several points for clarity.
Robert Hockaday will give a similar talk on June 22, at a conference in
Lucerne, Switzerland.
Message
Smaller. Lighter. Simpler. Cleaner. Less Expensive. This is the challenge we
have accepted to design a micro-fuel cell that matches the demands of the
cellular phone market. The integrated design utilizes vacuum deposition
techniques, to coat patterned porous plastic membranes. This enables the
fuel cells for roll-to-roll manufacturing. Their power source is methanol and its
alcohol derivatives.
Challenge
Has your cellular phone ever died on you? Yes, many people who have
portable electronics experience this irritation. They can understand that the
loss of power comes from what the marketplace lacks ñ a long lasting,
dependable power supply. Most cellular phone owners use them whenever
and wherever they want to. The existing solutions defeat the purpose of
having these necessary and convenient devices.
Design Principles
What we are developing is called the Micro-Fuel Cell™. It is a power supply
alternative that specifically meets the needs of this market. In fact, it has the
potential to revolutionize it. The essential details of the Micro-Fuel Cell are:
- Thin, Flexible, micro-engineered electrodes
- Non-bipolar stacking.
- Ambient operation.
- A power source that uses methanol or ethanol liquid fuels.
Solutions
The five challenges for the use of Micro-Fuel Cells™ in cellular telephones
and other portable electronics were outlined: Smaller. Lighter. Simpler.
Cleaner. Less Expensive. There was a presentation on the performance
estimates of the Micro-Fuel Cell™ design to meet those challenges:
Smaller: 3-5 times smaller than lithium ion batteries.
Lighter: Methanol-powered Micro-Fuel Cells' specific energy is
potentially 30 times that of current lithium ion batteries. When both
technologies are taken to their limits, methanol still exceeds lithium
technology by 6 to 7 times in energy per unit mass. Thus, we can do
a lot more with less mass. At 50% efficiency, our goal is to produce
an energy source that will run a small device for more than six
months.
Simpler: With a portable telephone powered by Micro-Fuel Cells™,
users could refuel in less than a minute. By contrast, it typically takes
90 minutes to 15 hours to fully recharge a portable phone powered by
lithium ion batteries. This leads to what we term the instant
forgiveness of fueling.
Cleaner: Batteries have an environmental problem. Many contain
hazardous materials that could leak, and improperly discarded
batteries pose litter and safety problems. Alcohol fuels, and the
components of fuel cells are environmentally benign. What's unusual
and beneficial is that when alcohol fuels are used, they are converted
to carbon dioxide and water; there is no solid waste product, except
possibly an empty container.
Less Expensive: We have projected that the component costs for a
portable or cellular phones Micro-Fuel Cell™ power supply is about $5
in mass production. In comparison, a typical lithium ion pack has a
component cost of about $40 and retails for $100. While better than
the NiCad batteries they're replacing, they still can't ever have the
efficiency or environmental benefits of Micro-Fuel Cells™ as a power
source.
Focus on Portable Electronics
The presentation included a comparison of the market for fuel cells, ranging
from pagers (at 1.0 Milliwatt) to automobile engine replacements (at 0.1
Megawatts).
The potential of the small portable electronics market was mapped out in
comparison to that of replacement automobile engines powered by fuel cells.
This validated the logic of choosing portable electronics as a market niche.
Estimates of market size and dynamics were also demonstrated.
Conclusion: Current Status and Challenges
The presentation concluded with summaries of current research, and of the
intellectual property portfolio held by Manhattan Scientifics. The major
technical issues that we face are common to all fuel cells, but we face them
on a miniature scale:
- Catalytic surface area.
- Minimizing impedance.
- Raising the operating temperature.
- Achieving a physically robust system.
In conclusion, we said that the major challenges in further development of the
Micro-Fuel Cell™ are:
- Increasing the cell efficiency
- Maintaining water, carbon dioxide and heat balances
- Maintaining an intellectual property portfolio
- Putting it all together.
**Was told that pager was demonstrated with fuel cell at conference...
I believe picture from June 1 post there is a pager as well..
unless there there all ready ..its by by seto and all other makers who are no r and d wise
imo
tim |
