Panasonic Unveils Notebook Fuel Cell
Panasonic announced it will showcase a new methanol fuel cell prototype this week that can output up to 20 W of power for 20hours.
The new fuel cell is half the size of the previous prototype that Panasonic had demonstrated in the past at CES 2006, offering a size that is now comparable to a traditional notebook battery pack. The new fuel cell can produce an average power output of 10 W, with a maximum output of 20 W, which can be sustained continuously for 20 hours on 200 cc of fuel.
There appears to be two different versions of this new fuel cell prototype ; one for use in notebooks and a second for use as a battery charger. The notebook fuel cell has a volume of 270 cc, which it appears 200 cc of that volume is for the methanol fuel. The battery charger version has a larger volume of 360 cc, but it also seems to have a fuel capacity of 200 cc. The weight of each device without fuel is 320 grams and 350 grams, respectively. Referring to Wikipedia for the density of methanol, it would seem that with a full tank of fuel both fuel cells would each weigh just over one pound.
Panasonic will display the new fuel cell prototype at the Hydrogen Energy Advanced Technology Exhibition 2008 in Japan on Wednesday, with hopes of a commercial launch in 2012. Panasonic is not the only company with ambitions of commercializing fuel cells though, as Toshiba has already announced its hopes to release a fuel cell system in the coming months. Current availability of fuel cells is generally limited to the U.S. Army, although there are some fuel cell systems currently available for consumers.
Unlike with traditional batteries, fuel cells do not degrade over time or require recharging. As long as fuel is provided, power will flow continuously. With an average output of just 10 W of power though, these new fuel cells may only be enough to power energy-efficient mobile devices, such as netbooks, instead of traditional notebooks. Problems with government regulations, fuel distribution and costs are among some of the other issues that companies wishing to deploy fuel cells are facing.
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OK, so what exactly is wrong with Hydrogen power? I find it odd that so much time and money is invested in coming up with biofuels (that incidentally have increased food prices as a result of more grain is directed to ethanol production) when Hydrogen is so much easier and cheaper to produce.
http://www.firebox.com/product/2163/H2Go-Racer
And storage isn't exactly a problem if you create what you need as you need it (plus storing a tank full of Hydrogen isn't any more dangerous than a tank of gasoline anyway).
the problem is that it's not cheap to produce.
current methods of hydrogen reclamation use more engergy than is produced from using the hydrogen as fuel. the (still elusive) golden egg is to find a way to extract hydrogen from water in an efficient enough way to make it a viable alternative fuel.
So the Hydrogen cutting torch on Scrapheap Challenge I saw a year or so ago created from a jam jar of water and a car battery isn't economically viable?
I've seen so many home-brew methods of splitting water I have a hard time believing it's as expensive as the experts claim it to be, certainly compared to alcohol-based biofuels.
I didn't see that, but I'm guessing that the reaction chamber was electrically powered somehow? the short and sweet version of the process is that the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in the water have to be pulled apart for this to work. causing this reaction to happen (currently) takes quite a lot of energy, more than you get from burning the fuel so it's not truly 'free' energy until someone can figure out how to perform the reaction without expending more juice than they gain. currently all that is happening is the transfer of one form of energy into another whilst losing a bit in the transfer.
if someone can find out a way to split them without using too much energy in the reaction we'll be laughing.