Fuel cells for electronics nearer
04.12.2008 07:47
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- Source: toledoblade.com
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Laptop, cell phone, and iPod owners tired of their devices running out of charge after a few hours have been waiting for the next portable power source. Tiny fuel cells, powered by combustible liquids or gasses, have long been touted as the eventual solution. But fuel cells perennially remained a year or two away from the market as companies worked on making them small, cheap, and long-lasting while making sure they don't overheat. Lilliputian Systems Inc., a Wilmington, Mass., firm founded by former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, plans to introduce a portable fuel cell late next year for any device that can be charged via a USB port. The cigarette-pack-size charger will use a canister of butane, the same fuel used in cigarette lighters, said Mouli Ramani, Lilliputian's vice president of business development. Each teaspoon of the fuel can provide 20 times the run time of a battery of the same size. 
A fuel-cell charging system, left, is about the same size as a mobile phone.
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