Apple Getting Closer to Making Products with Hydrogen Fuel Cells!

[Anderton]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/25/apple-hydrogen-battery-phone-computer-plan_n_1169336.html?ref=mostpopular

 

If they're cracked the code for hydrogen fuel cells, that will change society as we know it.

[MrKnobs]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/25/apple-hydrogen-battery-phone-computer-plan_n_1169336.html?ref=mostpopular If they're cracked the code for hydrogen fuel cells, that will change society as we know it.

 

Hydrogen fuel cells have been around since the 1800's. As you might recall, the Apollo 13 drama was caused by one exploding in the cruise module on the way to the moon. Hydrogen fuel cells are very common in industrial applications already.

 

I've not read the article, so maybe it points out why fuel cells are useful in portable devices. My first reaction is to think that very few portable device users are far from a recharge point for very long.

 

So maybe "change society as we know it" is accurate but not very meaningful?

 

*edit* Just read the article. Lots of hype, not much substance, at least not yet. This part is especially bizarre:

 

"Our country's continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling," reads the patent application. "These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources."

 

Terry D.

[UstadKhanAli]

What do you find bizarre about that statement, Terry?

[MrKnobs]

What do you find bizarre about that statement, Terry?

 

How does using hydrogen help? The hydrogen has to be made either by electrolyzing water or from petroleum. When you plug your charger into the wall, you're using hydrocarbons.

 

Terry D.

[Lee Flier]

It is true that much the push for hydrogen fuel cells is a lot of hype, and something of a shell game, because if you charge a fuel cell by plugging it into your wall, you're using fossil fuels. A hydrogen fuel cell is not a power source - it's a power storage mechanism, like a battery. So any notion that it can, of its own accord, replace fossil fuels is bunk. Yes, a hydrogen cell can be recharged with renewable energy sources, but so can a battery.

 

It appears that the main purpose of using the fuel cells in Apple's case is that they are lighter less bulky than a battery, and will hold a charge longer. So that would be nice. It appears from looking at the actual patent application that the design would still use a battery, but I guess the idea is it could be a smaller battery that could be continually recharged from fuel cells.

 

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20110313589.pdf

 

Now if Apple makes and sells the fuel cells and they are charged using renewable energy sources, then they might be able to make good on their claim of reducing fossil fuel usage. It's only a patent application, so who knows.

[Geoff Grace]

If it can hold a charge longer, and if it takes the same amount of energy to charge as other batteries, then it would be greener.

 

But those are two ifs.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Lee Flier]

 

If it can hold a charge longer, and if it takes the same amount of energy to charge as other batteries, then it would be greener.

 

 

It would not take the same amount of energy to charge. Hydrogen cells are actually very inefficient. There are other potential green benefits, but it'd be hard to know if they were legit without a lot more information than we have.

[Anderton]

 

It appears that the main purpose of using the fuel cells in Apple's case is that they are lighter less bulky than a battery, and will hold a charge longer. So that would be nice. It appears from looking at the actual patent application that the design would still use a battery, but I guess the idea is it could be a smaller battery that could be continually recharged from fuel cells.

 

 

One of the preferred embodiments does not require a rechargeable battery...I find that intriguing.

 

What I get from the patent application, reading between the lines given that they need to reveal enough to get the patent but not enough to give away the store, is that Apple is planning to use a sophisticated control mechanism to both send and receive power from a rechargeable battery, if one is used, as well as to dole out power to the load. If so, then it seems that there could be a solar/light trickle charger that would not need to deliver large amounts of current in a short period of time, but could keep things "topped up" without ill effect.

 

I might be reading too much into it, but it think this is more about the control mechanism than the fuel cells and as a result, they'll be able to make fuel cells viable for consumer electronics.

[UstadKhanAli]

How does using hydrogen help? The hydrogen has to be made either by electrolyzing water or from petroleum. When you plug your charger into the wall, you're using hydrocarbons. Terry D.

 

Thanks.

 

Your issue with that statement is with respect to hydrogen fuel cells, not the quote as it stands by itself. That definitely makes sense.

[Lee Flier]

 

What I get from the patent application, reading between the lines given that they need to reveal enough to get the patent but not enough to give away the store, is that Apple is planning to use a sophisticated control mechanism to both send and receive power from a rechargeable battery, if one is used, as well as to dole out power to the load. If so, then it seems that there could be a solar/light trickle charger that would not need to deliver large amounts of current in a short period of time, but could keep things "topped up" without ill effect. I might be reading too much into it, but it think this is more about the control mechanism than the fuel cells and as a result, they'll be able to make fuel cells viable for consumer electronics.

 

 

Yeah, the control mechanism part does look interesting. That's the one thing that leads me to believe they might really be onto something -it doesn't take much power to run a portable device, so if it could be charged by solar energy, kinetic energy or a combination thereof, that could be pretty awesome. Rarely or never having to plug your iThingies into a wall wart, having it be near totally self sustaining, would certainly be a big deal. But like you say, it's hard to say whether that's really what they're up to or how close to reality it is.

[Anderton]

 

so if it could be charged by solar energy, kinetic energy or a combination thereof, that could be pretty awesome.

 

 

I didn't think of the kinetic energy angle, but when you consider people jogging with iPods or walking down the street with iPhones...hmm...

[Lee Flier]

Yeah, exactly. There've already been experiments with this sort of thing for awhile, and there are several kinetic cellphone chargers on the market already - I think most of them work with an external "pedal" attachment that goes inside your shoe or something.

[tedmich]

I though they were much closer to being entirely powered by hot air...then Jobs died.

 

Fuel cells are no longer hot tech...sadly

[deanmass]

but, you are still here...surely you could step in...

 

facepalm.

 

ANY alternate fuels are worth looking into harder.

 

Hydrogen, whatever. I don't care if stuff runs on farts. We are running out of oil, and that, it the fact. Apple is known for both innovating AND capitalizing on innovations that were abandoned or bobbled by others. Maybe they have something to offer.

[philbo]

It might be a viable replacement for lithium cells. The potential for fires/explosions is considerably better with hydrogen than lithium, so... that oughta be exciting to watch...