Air Products for UK's first dual-pressure mobile hydrogen unit
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 79 KB
- Volume
- 2010
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1464-2859
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✦ Synopsis
power sources for two laptops -one to be used by American soldiers, and the other by the average consumer.
The latest contract with CERDEC will provide UNF with $3.2 million for the third year of a four-year project. UNF and University of Florida researchers, along with UNF engineering students, are working to replace the battery in military laptops with a direct methanol fuel cell. Portable energy sources for the dismounted soldier and for unmanned reconnaissance are of critical importance to the US Army.
UNF has leveraged the seed money for the project into additional funding for the research from the Department of Energy. The DOE contracts are for two projects, each worth $2.5 million.
One project focuses on the development of a commercialized version of the military laptop power supply. The second project, funded through the DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Program, aims to improve the membrane-electrode assembly. Subcontractors on these projects are the University of Florida, Northeastern University in Boston, and catalyst provider Johnson Matthey.
'The Army and DOE funding allow the School of Engineering to attract research faculty, teaching faculty, and students who might not otherwise come to UNF,' says Dr Jim Fletcher, a UNF mechanical engineering professor and the principal investigator for the contracts. 'Some graduates and faculty may be involved in UNF spinoff companies based on these underlying technologies that can bring high-tech jobs and patents to the First Coast region.'
When the military laptop project started in August 2009, UNF was partnering with PolyFuel, which had been a leading developer of portable fuel cell membrane technology. When the company went under [FCB, September 2009], UNF and the Army partnered to purchase significant portions of PolyFuel for its relevant intellectual property and equipment, to continue the research. Thus UNF has a presence in Silicon Valley in California and in Vancouver, Canada, where PolyFuel had operational facilities.
The projects with DOE will allow UNF, as owner of the intellectual property, to license the fuel cell membranes and technology to commercial entities, which will then produce it and sell it. The research should lead to a membrane that will be more efficient and durable at a lower cost, with the goal of manufacturing a power-producing device that will allow products such as laptops to be truly off-grid.