Never out of power – new and unique portable fuel cell charger that runs on ordinary water (um …)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.myfuelcell.se/never-out-of-power-%e2%80%93-new-and-unique-portable-fuel-cell-charger-that-runs-on-ordinary-water/

[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]Never out of power – new and unique portable fuel cell charger that runs on ordinary water[/font]

January 4, 2012

[font size=4]PowerTrekk is the world’s first portable fuel cell charger for consumer use that runs on ordinary water. Just add water to the PowerTrekk puck and you will never be out of power no matter how far away from an electricity grid you are. PowerTrekk will be showcased at CES 2012.[/font]

[font size=3]Stockholm, January 3, 2012 – Millions of people worldwide lack connection to the electricity grid from time to time. Swedish fuel cell pioneers myFC is now launching a unique solution to this problem – PowerTrekk, a cutting edge product that uses clean fuel cell technology which efficiently converts hydrogen into electricity. Users simply insert the Pow­erTrekk puck and add ordinary water to provide instant power on the go.

“PowerTrekk Water Charger gives your mobile phone power anywhere at any time”, says Björn Westerholm, CEO at myFC. “From now on, you do not have to rely on having an electricity grid nearby.”

Unlike solar chargers, fuel cell power is reliable and quickly generated. The speed of charging is not impacted by weather or solar position. Furthermore, there is no power degradation like there is with batteries.

…[/font][/font]

OK, so the scoop is that the “PowerPukk” contains “sodium silicide” powder which reacts with the water, producing hydrogen for use in the fuel cell.

[ret5hd]

1. does it generate enough power to run a small water pump???

Instant perpetual motion machine!

[Dead_Parrot]

2. The question is, is course, what is the embedded energy in NaSi?

A useful do-dad for camping and emergency power, though.

Edit: see Green Car Congress from 2006 for the reaction.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. From the article I linked to…

http://www.onlinetes.com/tes-0311-hydrogen-fuel-cells-sodium-silicide.aspx

[font face=Times, Serif][font size=3]…

For example, a sodium silicide fuel cell in reasonable production volumes will be 10 times less expensive than alkaline batteries and six times less expensive than disposable lithium batteries, including the cost of the fuel cell. Put another way, in order to buy enough alkaline batteries to charge a cell phone 100 times (800 W-hrs ), a consumer will pay about $967. Lithium batteries are a bit cheaper and will cost about $512 for 100 charges. For a sodium silicide fuel cell, consumers will pay only $89 for 100 uses. Including the cost of the fuel cell, consumers will save nearly $900 by charging their electronics with a sodium silicide fuel cell.

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[Dead_Parrot]

4. Nobody with all their marbles charges their phone from batteries, though.

As advertising angles go, "It's better than being bat-shit insane" isn't much of a tag-line.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. I guess you don’t know that many USofAmericans

http://www.google.com/search?q=recharge%20cell%20phone%20battery

[Dead_Parrot]

7. Ouchie

Still, as I said...

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Made from elemental sodium and silicon ...

sodium must be made by electrolysis, silicon mostly made in electric furnaces (AFAIK) from coke and silica, with CO2 as byproduct.

Energy efficiency is probably pretty low. This is "luxury electricity", could never make it on a commodity scale.

Thanks for the link -- they also make a dispersed sodium in silica power, chemically probably pretty different.

One drawback with sodium silicide is the possibility that trace amounts of Si2H6 (pyrophoric) might be produced. Keeping the Na/Si ratio low probably prevents this.


ETA: One of the authors of the JACS paper is James Dye, a well-recognized chemist who prepared the first compounds containing alkali metal anions such as Na^-; he introduced the use of so-called 'cryptand' complexing agents for cations. What they have found here is a convenient, safe-to-handle portable source of H2. It's not a new energy source, "green" energy, perpetual motion, or any other breakthrough. It's a neat invention for certain applications, nothing more, nothing less.

[kristopher]

5. 4ea rechargeable AA batteries w/charger = $20

Your comparison:

For example, a sodium silicide fuel cell in reasonable production volumes will be 10 times less expensive than alkaline batteries and six times less expensive than disposable lithium batteries, including the cost of the fuel cell. Put another way, in order to buy enough alkaline batteries to charge a cell phone 100 times (800 W-hrs ), a consumer will pay about $967. Lithium batteries are a bit cheaper and will cost about $512 for 100 charges. For a sodium silicide fuel cell, consumers will pay only $89 for 100 uses. Including the cost of the fuel cell, consumers will save nearly $900 by charging their electronics with a sodium silicide fuel cell.

$8.50 = 1 each universal battery operated charger
$20 = 4ea rechargeable AA batteries w/charger
$1 = 10 kwh of grid electricity


<$30 and you'll get far more than 100 uses. Probably on the order of 1000 plus. Also there are far more places to hook into the grid to replenish the field system than there are outlets selling sodium silicide.

I'd suggest adding another 12 additional rechargeable batteries for $17 just to power the remotes and LED flashlights that are everywhere around the house.

Total $47

Places to buy above items:
4ea rechargeable AA batteries w/charger
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Energizer+-+NiMH+AA+and+NiMH+AAA+Battery+Charger/9514126.p;jsessionid=B5B6F762DF63D87C47E46A67A467A8E4.bbolsp-app04-52?id=1218128760102&skuId=9514126

1 each universal battery operated charger $8.50
http://www.amazon.com/iGo-powerXtender-Universal-Battery-Operated/dp/B000O2X2OU

12 ea rechargeable batteries for $17
http://www.all-battery.com/12pcsNiMHRechargeableBatteries3Cases-91110.aspx?zmam=55942680&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=91110&gclid=CMSp2Kiit60CFbEDtgodQj4iuQ

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Quick question

If you cannot plug in a cell phone charger, how will you plug in a battery charger?

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2011/May/Pages/ArmyMarinesFaceUphillBattleToLightenTroops%E2%80%99BatteryLoad.aspx

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Army, Marines Face Uphill Battle To Lighten Troops’ Battery Load [/font]

By Sandra I. Erwin

[font size=3]For a three-day mission in Afghanistan, the average soldier lugs a minimum of 20 pounds of up to seven types of batteries — from small AA’s for night-vision goggles to brick-size packs used in tactical radios. Some troops tote even more — up to 35 pounds — for specialized equipment. An infantry battalion on a one-year deployment typically burns through $150,000 worth of batteries.

Power and energy are essential weapons of war. Troops deploy with more electronic gear than ever: Flashlights, radios, GPS receivers, computers, cameras, mp3 players, small robots, all of which have to be constantly charged.

But these growing energy demands are bad news for the U.S. military for a number of reasons. For one, they pose enormous burdens on the logistics support system, which endangers U.S. forces. In Afghanistan, supply trucks heading to military outposts must travel on hazardous, mine-infested roads. The weight of the extra batteries also is causing physical harm to soldiers, putting them at risk of musculoskeletal injuries, some with long-term consequences.

Freeing troops from the tyranny of batteries has taken on more urgency in recent years as the overall weight of a soldier’s gear has ballooned upwards of 130 pounds. Curbing the demand for batteries is one piece of a larger effort by the Army and Marine Corps to bring down the weight from 130 to less than 50 pounds.

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[kristopher]

11. Quick answer

The range of applications for the gadget in very, very narrow - as your last post demonstrates.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. The range of applications is for people who will not be “on the grid” but need to recharge things

At first glance, this may appear to be quite a limited market. One application which comes to mind are backpackers.

However, consider a different market.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/gonzo/how-a-new-battery-could-change-rural-africa

[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]How a New Battery Could Charge Rural Africa[/font]

[font size=4]For 500 million mobile phone users in impoverished communities around the world, it's tough to find an outlet to charge their batteries. A U.S. startup called Fenix International would like to change that with its new, ruggedized and intelligent battery, the ReadySet.[/font]

November 11, 2010 11:00 AM

[font size=3]Rural Africans have at least one thing in common with people in developed countries: the perpetual quest for a mobile phone charge. The difference is in what we're looking for. In rural Africa, it's not uncommon to charge a phone on a car battery. Car chargers with cigarette lighter adapters are widespread, and enterprising tinkerers dismantle the adapters, attach them to used car batteries and bill $.25 for a charge.

"There are 500 million cellphone users worldwide who don't have access to the grid, so how in the world are they charging their phones?" asks Michael Lin, an American product designer and founder of Fenix International. (That figure—500 million —comes from research by the GSMA, the international association of mobile operators.) "The surprising answer is, it's totally informal: 25 cents at a time." It turns out that mobile networks, and Lin, see a market in Africa. Lin wants to sell a safer, more reliable battery and micropower generator, and the mobile carriers want customers to charge their phones.

The problem with car batteries is that they're dangerous. In homes, they can leak or spill acid. "We've seen a lot of burns," Lin says. Plus, the cost adds up. When they're repeatedly depleted, car batteries quickly lose their ability to hold a charge. And charging them can be an ordeal. People have to cart them to the nearest village that has a generator or a grid connection, which is sometimes a trek of several miles.

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Seriously? In a world where a better battery case is life changing…

[kristopher]

13. Seriously. You're barking up the wrong tree.

Solar Power Off the Grid: Energy Access for World’s Poor

More than a billion people worldwide lack access to electricity. The best way to bring it to them — while reducing greenhouse gas emissions — is to launch a global initiative to provide solar panels and other forms of distributed renewable power to poor villages and neighborhoods.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11273280



(Pakistan) Alternative energy: Consumers increasingly opt for solar power
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11273302

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. I’m all in favor of solar for the world’s poor

However, I expect a product like this would do well in these areas as well.

[kristopher]

15. Perhaps

But given the narrow focus of the comparative analysis in the article, I doubt it. Lithium is going to plummet in price as EV mfging ramps up.

[Nihil]

9. Might be a useful addition for earthquake/hurricane/survival packs ...

... but pretty pointless economically (as shown above) for general use.

Its (dormant) storage characteristics are pretty appealing ...
> Sodium silicide is stable over all practical temperature ranges (-55°C to 300°C),
> is lightweight, and has an unlimited shelf life. For emergency responders and the
> military, this means that generators, radios, phones, computers, telecommunications
> stations, and temporary medical equipment will operate continuously, reliably, and
> safely with sodium silicide fuel cells. Given its indefinite shelf life, this material can
> be easily stockpiled and transported.

... as are the "water" requirements ...

> Another interesting benefit, clean water is not required to generate hydrogen.
> Sodium silicide fuel cells can generate power with any type of water solution – including
> potable water, polluted water, sea water, or even urine. This is significant in battlefield
> or natural disaster response settings where clean water supplies may be disrupted.

... although I can see the potential for a Darwin award from a squaddie p*ssing into
his 200W power supply ...