ITM Power Plc (ITMPF)

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ITMs CRADA with US Navy going great guns

It looks like the US Navy CRADA is indeed targetted towards prolonging the running hours of the ITM duel fuel cell when installed in an unmanned underwater vehicle(UUV)
Alternatively ITM may have replaced or paralleled the Intelligent Energy nafion fuel cell which is currently providing fuel to the Boeing unmanned air vehicle (UAV)

Prof Donald Highgate has submitted a patent on the principle that a dual fuel cell can be continuously replenished with fuel from a stack of fuel cassettes ………..As the old cassette is nearing exhaustion a new software controlled cassette is slotted into place and the empty one removed
See
http://www.freshpatents.com/Method-for-operating-an-electrochemical-cell-and-a-cassette-for-use-therewith-dt20081113ptan20080280170.php


This suggests ITM have cracked yet another massive fc problem
i.e
They have designed a dual fuel cell with a small enough footprint to fit inside the space available on a UUV (and possibly also a UAV)
And
They have found a way of prolonging the time when the vehicle can operate using an ingenious cassette system

Donald Highgate has unusually claimed all this patent himself suggesting he is perhaps working more on his own nowadays

The good news is that DH would not have patented this concept if he had not first checked it out with CRADA
ITM have not been forthcoming about progress with Boeing or CRADA
A bit like we never knew if ABRO was “alive and well” until we found out it was dead

However as far as CRADA is concerned this latest patent application augurs well
It strongly suggests that unlike ABRO the CRADA contract is “alive and well” after 12m