more on upcoming fuel cells

[Alejandro Dubrovsky <s328940@student.uq.edu.au>]

http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20020809S0044

Fuel cells march toward the mainstream

By Charles J. Murray
EE Times
August 9, 2002 (5:29 p.m. EST)

After years of upping the technological ante, suppliers of micro fuel
cells may finally be preparing to make a bid for the $10 billion-a-year
rechargeable-battery market.

Their efforts reached a high-water mark this past week, as MTI MicroFuel
Cells Inc. (Albany, N.Y.) unveiled a prototype fuel cell that's small
enough to ride piggyback on a cell phone, while offering greater
charging potential than a lithium ion battery. The technology, said to
be manufacturable because it employs no pumps or water recirculation
techniques, could be in production as early as 2004, the company said.

MTI's 90-cubic-centimeter device, reportedly the smallest
direct-methanol fuel cell available, represents another in a succession
of fuel cell advances during the past 12 months. Late last year,
scientists at Motorola Labs (Tempe, Ariz.) demonstrated a prototype of a
miniature ceramic-based direct-methanol fuel cell, a type that converts
methanol fuel directly to electricity. In April, Manhattan Scientifics
Inc. (Los Alamos, N.M.) unveiled a micro fuel cell that reportedly
offers six to nine times the energy density of lithium ion batteries.
And in May, Medis Technologies Inc. (New York) announced that its
engineers had operated a tiny laboratory fuel cell at 0.5 volt and
10,000 mA-hours continuously for 24 hours. Casio, Toshiba and Samsung
have also announced fuel cell breakthroughs in the past six months.

"There's an intense horse race going on now in the micro fuel cell
area," said Gerald Caesar, program manager for the advanced-technology
program at the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), which awarded $4.7 million to MTI for
technology development last year. "If these companies can get the cost
down, miniaturize the technology and keep the energy density up, they
have a real chance to supplant lithium ion technology."

Production effort

Fuel cells could represent a major step forward for the electronics
industry, since they could be used as portable chargers for
current-generation batteries or as power sources for cell phones,
personal digital assistants or, eventually, laptop computers. There,
they could eventually offer charge times anywhere from two to 10 times
as long as lithium ion batteries, now the standard power source for such
systems.

"Battery chemistries are reaching a point where it's going to be hard to
enhance them much more," noted Barry Huret, president of Huret
Associates (Yardley, Pa.), a battery consultant. "Fuel cells appear to
be the next step, but it's clear that it's not going to be easy getting
there."

MTI's announcement of a prototype that's believed to be the smallest
direct-methanol fuel cell yet gave rise to speculation that fuel cells
may finally be nearly ready for prime time. Direct-methanol fuel cells,
which convert methanol to electricity through the use of a catalyst, are
highly sought after by the electronics industry because they don't
convert the methanol to hydrogen before creating electricity. That means
such products as PDAs and cellular phones wouldn't dissipate much heat
and could, therefore, be held in hand or carried in a pocket.

MTI's prototype also added a new dimension, because the company's
scientists say they have developed a conversion technique using a
polymer electrolyte membrane that can be easily manufactured. Unlike
past such techniques, MTI's system does not need to collect water from
the fuel cell's cathode and pump it back to the anode, vastly
simplifying the device's internal components.

MTI's claims of manufacturability were supported by the fact that the
company is making obvious efforts to bring its fuel cell out of the lab
and into production. DuPont (Wilmington, Del.), which has made an equity
investment in MTI, is working with the company to develop membrane
electrode assemblies and polymer-based conductive plates for use in its
fuel cell stack. MTI also announced last week that it has hired Alan
Soucy, a former Philips Electronics executive with experience in laptop
and PDA production, to head a Silicon Valley operation that will develop
alliances with the electronics industry.

Long-range potential

Micro fuel cells are said to offer energy densities of 1,000 watt-hour
per kilogram or greater. By comparison, the best lithium ion batteries
now range from 150 to 300 W-hr/kg. As a result, some scientists believe
fuel cells could boost the span between battery recharges by two, five
or even 10 times on products such as laptops, cell phones and PDAs.

"Depending on the application, we believe that we can get a factor-of-10
improvement in the useful life of a device between recharges," said Bill
Acker, president and chief operating officer of MTI MicroFuel Cells.

MTI and other developers say they first plan to build fuel cell-based
battery rechargers, which would recharge today's conventional batteries
rather than replace them. Ultimately, however, they foresee their
products' supplanting batteries during the next several years.

"Longer-use devices, such as PDAs and cell phone-PDA combinations, are
the most attractive entry point," Acker said. "We're looking at high-end
devices where the users are willing to pay a premium for the device
itself, and pay a premium for longer usage times. When you bring out a
product like this, you have to capture those applications first."

Observers say that the technology could be especially important for
high-end cell phones, which are expected to climb from today's power
draws of 1 to 3 W, up to as much as 5 W in some cases.

"Once you start adding broadband capabilities to portable devices,
you're going to dramatically reduce their run-time," said Caesar of
NIST. "Phones could drop down to as little as half an hour of run-time
in a 3G [third-generation cellular] mode."

Using fuel cells instead of batteries to power such products, users
would lengthen run-times as they shorten recharges. Fuel cells could be
recharged simply by replacing a methanol fuel cartridge that would range
from thumbnail size to the size of a bar of soap. Developers estimate
that such refills would cost only about $1 apiece, and most of that cost
would be contained in the plastic enclosure holding the methanol.

Hurdles ahead

Many experts contend, however, that fuel cell technology must cross
several hurdles before it reaches the electronics mainstream. One key
area of technical concentration is in their ability to handle
temperature extremes as well as batteries currently do.

"Fuel cell catalysts don't operate very well in the cold, nor do they
perform very well in extreme dry climates," said Bob Hockaday, chief
fuel cell scientist for Manhattan Scientifics. "That's why some of the
wild enthusiasm to put them right into electronic products has died down
a little. That may still be a couple of years away."

Experts also say that the dream of fuel cell-based notebook computers
may still be a few years out. "If you look at how people use notebook
computers, you find that most of them don't run extensively on battery
power," said battery consultant Huret. "Most of the time, notebook
computers are plugged in, so the question could come down to how much
more it will cost to give consumers the extra charge time."

Fuel cell makers say they still don't have a handle on how much the
devices would add to the cost of a cell phone or laptop. As a result,
manufacturers expect their technology to initially come out on
higher-end products, where its cost can be more easily absorbed. They
say they also need to tread lightly in the beginning while they build
public confidence.

"The general public and the OEM engineers need to get comfortable with
it first," said Acker of MTI. "The timing of our product rollout is
going to be tied to developing the proper mind-set."