January 09, 2004

By: Adalie Schnider
Website: http://www.1st-in-batteries.com

Manhattan Scientifics completes fuel cell powered phone call device

Manhattan Scientifics, Inc., announced today that Chief Fuel Cell Scientist Robert G. Hockaday has successfully made a cellular telephone call using a phone powered by an alcohol fueled pre-prototype MicroFuel Cell. The call was made this month at the company's Los Alamos, N.M. laboratory where the new MicroFuel Cell™ is under development. The call demonstrated that a MicroFuel Cell can produce enough electricity to power a cellular telephone. Last July, Hockaday said he expected to successfully test a fuel cell powered telephone by year-end.

Hockaday's fuel cell team ran a cellular phone continuously in standby for 24 hours and made periodic phone calls. Hockaday said, "We have achieved the minimum of 100 milliwatts of power output necessary to keep the phone in standby and simultaneously trickle charge a battery with our pre-prototype system. This is a major step in our effort to commercialize a long-life MicroFuel Cell™ power system for portable electronics." The pre-prototype breadboard system consisted of 20 miniature fuel cells on five sheets of plastic connected in series to deliver four volts to the cellular phone. The system was fueled with a 50% methanol water mixture.

The successful demonstration of the pre-prototype marks another significant milestone in the development of the MicroFuel Cell, which was powered by a small amount of methanol and water commonly used as windshield washer fluid. Hockaday said, "We expect to complete a fully working prototype before mid 1999. Our ultimate goal is to maintain a digital cellular telephone on standby for more than six months and to provide 100 hours of talk time with a single refueling of several ounces of a methanol/water mix." For commercial use, the tiny energy source will be engineered to be smaller and lighter than a conventional rechargeable battery and is expected to be priced competitively with conventional cellular phone batteries.

For more information, see batteries for cellular phones.

About The Author:

Adalie Schnider is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-batteries.com.  A great resource for all kinds of batteries to be used for camcorders, laptops, cell phones and more.