Military applications, portable fuel cell

The development of portable fuel cells had been underpinned by US space and military programs. Though good number of companies have brought out their prototype and demonstration model, commercial production for consumer electronic application is way off due to high cost and bulkiness of the state of the art product. Details of inicrofuel cells developed by some of the organizations are described as follows. 

The modular design of the HyPM fuel cells allows scaling for higher power requirements using a variety of configurations, such as series and parallel systems. Potential applications for the technology include vehicle propulsion, auxiliary power units (APU), stationary applications including backup and standby power units, combined heat and power units and portable power applications for the construction industry and the military. 

Canadian interests span into hydrogen production, delivery and utilization, primarily in fuel cell applications in transportation, stationary and portable systems. Furthermore, codes and standards for hydrogen systems are an important area of activity. The range of future electrical requirements for early adopters, such as the military, is very wide with numerous applications for various electrically powered systems. The introduction of hydrogen as an energy carrier into the commercial and military sector offer similar and sometimes unique challenges in all the areas discussed. 

Shipments of fuel cell-equipped mobile devices could grow very rapidly if they can eliminate the need for frequent recharging of current battery-powered models. The Medis 24/7 Power Pack in April 2007. It is a portable, disposable power source for small electronic devices such as cell phones and MP3 players. Manufactured by Medis Technologies, it is based on Direct Liquid Fuel cell technology, and may be of particular utility in military applications. Elsewhere, MTI MicroFuel Cells manufactures a power pack for portable electronics that is based on direct methanol fuel cell technology that it calls Mobion. 

Smaller fuel cells (1 kW and lower) may be used as portable power as well as back-up power (uninterruptible power supply) or as battery chargers. Small fuel cells are also being developed as battery replacement which would enable longer operation time for consumer electronics (such as laptop computers, cell phones, cameras, and music players). There is a wide array of possible fuel cell applications in military battery chargers, telecommunications, navigation systems, soldier power, computers, various power tools,... 

At 1-10 W (watts), fuel cells could be used as battery replacements at 100 W to 1 kW, fuel cells could find military applications which require lightweight portable power sources for communications and weapon power at 1 - 10 kW, fuel cells could supply power to residential buildings and serve as auxiliary power units in vehicles and trucks. At higher power levels, the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) could be an effective approach for the distributed power generation and the cogeneration (i.e., combined heat and power). Above 1 MW, the SOFC could be integrated with a turbine power plant to improve the overall efficiency of power generation and reduce emissions. ... 

Specific applications Portable power sources Quiet power sources Remote power sources Space explorations Military applications On-site or on-board fuel cells for stationary, mobile, and portable systems... 

The main applications of direct methanol fuel cells in the near future will be the power supply of various portable electronic devices with civil, commercial, or military uses. In the future, power plants for electric vehicles and other transportation will join the above-mentioned applications. All these applications have specific, different features ... 

Speaking of military fuel cell applications, we must first point out the following. Most versions of fuel cell-based power plants are of ambivalent utility they are just as good for civil as for military purposes. Thus, the stationary power plants of different sizes used for unintermptible emergency power supplies for military objects such as forts, command centers, radar stations, and the like do not differ in any way from similar power plants for civil use in hospitals, telecommunications installations, computer centers of banks, and so on. Power plants for automotive land and water-bound means of transport are equally good for civil and for military vehicles. This is true, even more directly, for power sources intended to supply portable equipment. A lower volume and weight of all equipment carried by soldiers in combat (e.g., as a means of communication, as a means of orientation, as night-vision devices) is a very important point for land forces. 

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