In future, PCs will run on gas, say Japanese boffins
THE DAYS WHEN your computer lives and dies by your electricity supply could be over. Power cuts, and those hard disk trashing electrical surges, could be a thing of the past, if new technology developed by Japan Steel Works is successful.
They've developed fuel cells to replace batteries for electronic devices. The rationale is to reduce the carbon foot print of technology users everywhere. This probably makes grim reading for companies like American Power Conversion who've made a multi-bezillion dollar fortune out of taming our wildly inconsistent electricity supplies.
If APC executives end up selling The Big Issue, they can blame the direct-methanol fuel cell, which uses methanol as the fuel source. That started the ball rolling. Now the Japanese have discovered the ultimate clean and replenishable fuel, hydrogen, can be stored in a matchbox-sized aluminium tank.
Inside the 4cm by 6cm tank a hydrogenated compound releases hydrogen gas when heated. It can provide 9.3 litres of hydrogen gas. Once finished, you dump the hydrogen-storage alloy in a recycling bin presumably. Make sure it's finished though, or your half-full fuel cell could explode if someone chucks a fag end into the recycler.
This propriety hydrogen-storage alloy has to be heated above 80C before it
begins to release hydrogen, but modifications mean it'll release hydrogen when
heated to just 60C. So the natural heat of running a laptop would be enough to
spark the gas supply into action, apparently. This will enable the system to
work off the heat naturally radiated from portable devices during
normal operation.
Japan Steel Works says fuel cells will eventually replace batteries as a form of power supply.
In cars, a tank filled with this new proprietary hydrogen-storage alloy can store some 3.6 times more hydrogen gas than a comparably sized pressurized gas tank. To travel the same distance, you only need a fuel tank that weighs half as much, according to electronicdesign.com.
These new fuel cells for cards won't be on the market for three years. There'll be an even longer wait for the fuel cell to replace the battery. So executives at APC and all the other power management companies have got plenty of time to type up their CVs and put some money aside for the kids education.
Still, I can't wait for the day my laptop runs on hydrogen. The market's really going to explode! µ
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IIRC, early-1990s laptop maker Librex was a division of a major Japanese steel company. I used to use and support their machines - decent, if uninspiring, and the company gave up on the market after a few years.
Sorry sir, but your laptop contains a bomb as a power supply. We simply cannot let you board this plane.
Sony made a bomb from a li-ion battery, wonder what they'll make from this? Hydrogen bomb?
'So the natural heat of running a laptop would be enough to spark the gas supply into action, apparently.'

Wow...fantastic theory - how do you get it started initially again? (when things are OFF and not producing heat)

60C? Do I now need to overclock things to get the temps high enough to heat the fuel cell? Bring back the smaller heat sinks!
Sounds like an awesome idea. I've got this picture in my head of people buying this things and running their houses totally on hydrogen.

according to my physics professor, hydrogen is 3x better than gas by weight, hydrogen (liquified) is 3x worse than gas by volume

please recheck the facts, hydrogen economy is not the best choice, i say hydrogen tank is worse than an exploding battery