Did I buy too soon?....
NTT Develops Mobile-Phone Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Company plans availability in third-generation phones in three years.
Paul Kallender, IDG News Service
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone has developed a prototype fuel cell that it hopes to commercialize within three years at a size small enough to fit inside mobile phones and other portable consumer electronics devices, the company said Thursday.
The prototype is a micro polymer-electrolyte fuel cell that works by combining hydrogen with oxygen, generating electricity and water. It is more powerful than the direct methanol fuel cells currently being developed by many companies, said Kazuya Akiyama, a researcher at the energy systems project at NTT's energy and environment systems laboratories.
The power density of the NTT cell, which is a measure of the amount of power it can generate relative to its size, is up to 200 milliwatts per square centimeter. When the fuel cell is commercialized, it will be able provide a third-generation mobile phone that uses 2.5 watts of power with about 9 hours of talk time, Akiyama said in a presentation at NTT's Yokosuka R&D Center on Thursday.
Power Advantage
In contrast, a DMFC developed by NEC last year offered a power density of 70 milliwatts per square centimeter. NTT calculates that to match the size of lithium ion batteries used in mobile phones, a fuel cell must have a power density of about 160 milliwatts per square centimeter or more, he said.
"DMFCs can't do it. There isn't enough power," Akiyama said.
NTT believes that the extra power advantage means hydrogen-fuelled PEFCs will be able to replace lithium ion batteries inside mobile phones and in tests the prototype has been able to power a phone long enough to allow a video or voice call, he said.
NTT's prototype currently measures 1.5 inches by 1.7 inches by 3.1 inches and weighs 3.3 ounces. It will take two years before the company can shrink this so that it can fit inside a cell phone, Akiyama said.
Jan said it was a good buy....that was good enough for me....glta
