Power breakthrough for mobile devices?
I’ve seen a reference to UltraCell which has announced a new product which is essentially a small portable fuel cell capable of providing 25 Watts of power using hot-swappable methanol canisters. It looks as though they’ve got a military joint project for the development of portable power systems. From reading the product brochures for the ultracell25 and ultracellxx90 (which provides 45 watts of output) it looks fairly promising.
I’m interested to see how much these units are and how much (where?) the canisters can be had to refuel. Fuel cells are a different approach than battery power, as they produce a certain amount of power as the fuel is consumed. They seem to have improved on small power cell technology with a reforming device. I don’t know much at this point about fuel cell technology I must admit, but it does look like their process may simplify the structure of the fuel cell device. They’ve managed to increase the energy density as well.
The product should be available in 2006 and is about the size of a book and weighs in at 40 ounces.
Given that the power source is the design limitaton for most portable electronics I’m wondering if this will help make things a bit more interesting. Frankly, I think one thing about the current battery/power options is that it makes the engineers design things with minimal power consumption in mind. An example is when computer memory was very pricey, most applications were designed to be stingy with memory, now that it’s plentiful there’s a lot of bloated application design. I don’t know that this will make for a case where power could be considered “plentiful”, but it will be interesting to watch.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Related Posts - 8,000 MPG (mile per gallon) car Well, these days with gas prices climbing and unstable, the media is always on the lookout for related stories. When the headline blared 8,000 MPG car.... I knew there had to be either 1) a tremendous technological breakthrough with hybrid gas/electrics... or 2) a SERIOUS catch. Skynews has the story......
- Product Reviews From time to time I've done product reviews on this site and I'm getting ready to do a first impression review on something else. I'd like to take a step back though and give you my thoughts on product reviews in general and their value (or lack thereoff...) I usually......
- The problem with earbuds..... This isn't exactly "high tech".... but earbuds are one of the ways we "interface" with high tech devices... A couple weeks ago I had the annoyance of my long time pair of earbuds failing to work. At first I thought my right ear was stopped up from allergies, but in......
Related Websites - 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 [The following is a guest post from Sean Cundal who writes many blog posts for the automotive industry.] At a MSRP $46,725, the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 is available as a 2 door coupe and convertible. This powerful muscle car is an all-aluminum fast car with increased performance and efficiency.......
- Solar Batteries My readers know that I have great optimism for the future of solar power. As the cost of solar cells drops, the challenge is to bridge the gap from sundown to sunrise. A recent article "'Major Discovery' Primed To Unleash Solar Revolution" suggests that "MIT researchers have overcome a major......
- Ford Has Hybrid Electric Cars in Works Recently, Ford automotive submitted to congress a business plan of attack, covering all angles, detailing the automobile manufacturer's plans for profit. The most notable of features for the plan involves the company's dedicative approach to the introduction of newer hybrid and full electric vehicles. This move hopes to save the......
Similar Posts
- Motorola investing in Fuel Cell tech for small devices
- Energy bill brings several expanded tax credits
- The Cost of Running a PC 24 Hours a Day
- Asus Eee PC | EeePC | Ultra Portable Laptop
- Dell recalling 35,000 notebook batteries