12 January 2008

Canadian Angstrom Power demos
fuel cell-powered batteries

What is more or less the same on all modern mobile devices?!

Crappy and fat batteries that takes up a huge amount of the space and contributes to a large part of the device's weight and unfortunately still can’t provide enough energy to maintain tasks on an average level.

Looking back through all these years everything has been improved or been given an extra dimension, everything except the batteries technology and the battery life that basically remains the same.

From other hand it’s good that finally we getting the very persistent reports about new technologies that promises super fast charging and longer-lasting batteries and here is another one related to fuel technology.

Anyway, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) the world is introduced to concepts that shape the future of electronics. Angstrom Power Inc., a Vancouver, Canada company, has developed a technology that promises just that. Offering twice the run-time of batteries and with recharge times on the order of 10 minutes, Angstrom’s EverOn capability promises to supplant the lithium ion batteries commonly used in today’s portable electronic devices.

Angstrom has announced a global first with the completion of a six-month test of fully integrated fuel cell-powered mobile devices.

This revolutionary power platform was successfully integrated into MOTOSLVR L7 handsets for the trial, with no modification to the outside dimensions of the devices. The trial devices did not rely on the use of any battery - instead, they drew power from Angstrom’s Micro Hydrogen platform, which is comprised of a novel fuel cell architecture, innovative micro-fluidics and a revolutionary refillable hydrogen storage tank. Angstrom has demonstrated research results showing twice the talk-time of the equivalent batterypowered devices in side-by-side testing.

Angstrom is currently collaborating with world-leading battery manufacturers, portable electronic device makers and mobile service providers towards the commercialization of its Micro Hydrogen technology.

“As consumer demand for smartphones and multimedia devices grows, so does the need for efficient powering solutions that help enable ‘always on’ experiences.” said Jerry Hallmark, Manager, Energy System Technologies, Motorola Mobile Devices business. “Motorola is working with Angstrom to develop fuel cell technology that will support the increasing energy demands of next generation devices.”

Nokia claims: fuel cells for mobiles still 'years away'

The commercialization of Angstrom’s technology reached another milestone on November 16th, 2007, when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) created new regulations that will permit Angstrom Power’s devices to be transported globally in the passenger cabin of commercial aircraft.

Final approval is expected before the regulations take effect in January 2009. With approval from Transport Canada, which preceded the ICAO regulations, Angstrom products have already made more than 60 commercial flights to date.

Stuart Robinson, Director of Handset Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics Ltd, commented, “Our research shows that insufficient battery run time ranks as one of the leading considerations in the adoption of handheld devices with rich multimedia functionality. Development of Lithium batteries is too slow to meet the growing energy demands of cellular handsets. Angstrom’s achievement, the world’s first successful integration of micro fuel cell technology into a standard mobile handset, demonstrates the potential of micro fuel cells to provide a better solution for demanding mobile energy applications.” The addressable market for Angstrom’s technology is estimated to exceed a billion units annually by 2010