Durable fuel cell
This week, fuel cell membrane developer PolyFuel announced that its hydrocarbon direct methanol fuel cell membrane has passed the 5,000-hour mark in durability testing.

This week, fuel cell membrane developer
announced that its hydrocarbon DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) membrane has passed the 5,000-hour mark in durability testing.
“Membrane durability has always been one of the key technical challenges faced by fuel cell manufacturers, as it translates directly to the lifetime of a fuel cell,” said Jim Balcom, president and CEO of PolyFuel.
In applications targeted for portable fuel cells, consumers are used to battery lifetimes in the 2,000 to 3,000 hour range for their portable devices. And electronics manufacturers and fuel cell developers see this as a crucial benchmark. So the 5,000-hour mark reached by PolyFuel is significant in that it far exceeds that lifetime requirement.
Better yet, fuel cells built with PolyFuel’s membrane continue to deliver nearly their original levels of runtime well past the 2,000 and 3,000 hour marks and are still going strong at 5,000 hours, while the charge-keeping capability of a typical lithium-ion battery degrades steadily over time and with use. For example, the runtime of a typical 4-hour laptop battery drops to only about 2.5 hours after 3,000 hours of use.
Register now to continue reading
Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.
Benefits of registering
-
In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends
-
Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year
-
Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox
Radio wave weapon knocks out drone swarms
Probably. A radio-controlled drone cannot be completely shielded to RF, else you´d lose the ability to control it. The fibre optical cable removes...