Sep
18
Toshiba’s fuel cell prototypes for DAPs
Toshiba developed two fuel cell prototypes for portable audio players. Called direct methanol fuel cells (or DMFC for short), their performance is quite good, but the prototype players they’re used in are a bit large in size (considering these DMFC units are the world’s smallest).
The 100mW unit, similar in shape and size to a pack of gum at a compact W23mm x L75mm x D10mm, can power the flash-based player for approximately 35 hours on a single 3.5ml charge of highly concentrated methanol [...] The 300mW unit is W60mm x L75mm x D10mm and delivers enough power to keep an HDD-based audio player running for approximately 60 hours on a single 10ml charge.
According to the company DMFC integration into commercial products is to be expected after 2007, which is still a long time ago (as is the case with every new battery technology, in case you have noticed).
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