The technology has advanced to the point which makes fuel-cell technology more environmentally feasible than other fuel-cell fields of application. The revolution comes with the development of Mobion by MTIMicro, a corporation that developed alternative power sources for today’s power hungry gizmos and gadgets. The fuel cell and supporting technology that they have designed and patented takes the technology to the microscopic level and eliminates much of the troublesome hardware that plagues regular fuel-cells. The design shows that technology can indeed make fuel cells, viable as a commercial product as back-up power source for recharging cellular phones, digital cameras, mobile PC’s, and just about any gadget and gizmo people of today cannot live without. This adds to the list of promising technologies that are currently being offered and are still being refined to make tomorrow a more sustainable gadget rich world that does not rely on the grid for power. Imagine having to go on vacation or a business trip overseas and not have to lug around all the chargers and power cords necessary to keep your gadgets powered up. Like the previously featured solar backpacks and luggage that have built-in solar panels to charge a stand-by battery which in turn gives up it’s charge when you use it to charge your gadgets and gizmo’s, along and the human powered bionic charger the technologies are truly cutting edge and green.
The Mobion mobile fuel cell charger uses a revolutionary direct methanol fuel cell design that uses methanol in cartridges (which can be similar to the ones you use for your paintball guns) which when tested allowed a regular cellular device for about 10 times without running to the wall outlet. This increases the power capabilities of a mobile device by 10%, till the next cartridge that is which if ample supply is available can truly take the road warrior away from the wall socket indefinitely. There are currently two versions of the prototype being previewed, one with a USB power socket on it’s side for some of the more miniaturized devices use the standard for communicating with a host computer and charging. The company is looking for an OEM partner who would ideally be a manufacturer of chargers and re-chargers. The company has signed a deal with Duracell for the marketing and supply of the required methanol-filled cartridges which makes the magic charger work.
The system works like an ordinary fuel cell with a fuel(methanol), ion exchange cells(membranes which facilitate the splitting of the methanol), system that collects and re-injects waste water back into the system, and of course the electronics that manages and makes everything works but on a microscopic scale. The only major difference is the elimination of the standard plumbing which is used to deliver fuel to the cells but instead using proprietary electronics to carry out the process with a micro pump to deliver the fuel straight to the cells for power generation. The cell warms up like a laptop when it is used and there is an evaporator system that cools the whole thing down (which also evaporates excess water which cools the cooling pads).