Alternative Energy

Mid-Range Fuel Cell

Manhattan Scientifics is pursuing several potential solutions to the world wide alternative energy need as it relates to personal, 2-wheel transportation, particularly in Asia. One example is the development of the award winning NovArs hydrogen powered fuel cell engine. Light weight and portable, it may be ideal to provide a “green”  inexpensive system to drive scooters, bicycles, power tools, portable electronics, wheel chairs, golf carts, and home emergency power. The company won Time Magazine Invention of the Year” award for its fuel cell Aprilia concept bicycle engine in 2001. To date a world - wide hydrogen infrastructure has not materialized.

 

History

On August 6, 1999 Manhattan Scientifics, Inc. completed arrangements to acquire the pending patents, intellectual property and exclusive worldwide commercial development rights to a mid-range fuel cell technology of NovArs Gessellschaft fuer neue Technologien, GmbH, a private company based in Passau, Germany.

In mid-June 2000 the company announced completion of initial development and initial testing of the "HYDROCYLE™", a fuel cell powered bicycle. The prototype bicycle utilizes Manhattan Scientifics' unique and proprietary mid-range power technology developed by the company's NovArs unit in Passau, Germany.

 

HYDROCYCLE™ Prototype (June 2000)

 

 

Driving Range 70-100 Km/h. It is completely pollution free.
The cylindrical shaped fuel cell stack, which powered the HYDROCYCLE™, weighed only 780 grams, delivered 670 watts of power to a hub motor. The hydrogen fuel was contained in a two-liter carbon fiber reinforced pressure vessel located behind the bicycle seat. This provided the cyclist with a driving range of up to 70-100 km (flat surface) at a top speed of 30 km/h. In production, the fuel tank could be integrated into the frame of the bicycle

 

 

The NovArs fuel cell design is based on the conventional fuel cell stack with these non-conventional, innovative design differences that make it simpler, lighter, less expensive and more efficient:

 

 

 

Technical Advantages

  • Cost
    • Higher power density enables us to have 30%-50% material cost advantage over competitors.
    • Simplicity design of NovArs fuel cell lowers the cost of peripheral equipment and the manufacturing cost.

  • Performance
    • For a given power, the NovArs fuel cell is smaller and of lighter weight.
    • The NovArs fuel cell eliminates the need of peripheral equipment, which makes the NovArs fuel cell potentially much more reliable than the competition.
    • Four times longer drive range or operation time for electric bikes, scooters, electronics systems, etc., at a given weight.
    • Instant refueling: 1-2 minutes to refuel instead of 4-8 hours to recharge a battery.

  • 100% Pollution-free power
    • The only waste product from the fuel cell in operation is water.
    • No secondary pollution from the discarded batteries.

 

Mid-Range Fuel Cell Patents Owned by Manhattan Scientifics

 

 

MicroFuel Cell

Manhattan Scientifics provided seed funding to former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Robert Hockaday, who has developed a flat printed fuel cell designed to provide an “always on” energy source to power micro-electronics such as cellular telephones and pagers. Manhattan Scientifics owns the worldwide right to the patented technology. To date, the micro fuel cell has not been commercialized.

 

HOW IT WORKS

 

 

History

MicroFuel Cell™ Basics The MicroFuel Cell™ is a small device that produces electricity from hydrogen, or hydrogen bearing fuels, and air.  We have been pursuing two fuel sources for small devices: chemical hydrides that make hydrogen on demand, and methanol.  In both fuel sources the fuel is broken down into protons from the hydrogen atoms on the electrodes.   In the direct methanol fuel cell it takes a methanol/water mixture at the anode and breaks it down into protons, CO2, and electrons. The electrons travel through an external circuit to provide electrical work. The protons are transported across an electrolyte to the cathode where they combine with oxygen from the air to form pure water.  The two main advantages of our technology are:

     
 

Performance- Using methanol as fuel provides the energy required for the extended battery life. The energy density of methanol fuel is up to 30 times that of the best rechargeable batteries available today, but at lower power densities.  The chemical hydride’s energy density could be roughly 20 times the best rechargeable batteries, but have the advantage of higher power density of 10-100 times those obtained when using methanol.  They could match or exceed batteries in power per unit mass.
   
 

Cost- Our devices are made using the same materials and miniaturization technologies that are extensively used in the semiconductor industry to manufacture inexpensive silicon chips.  These designs and methods of manufacturing ultimately will lead to the lowest cost production of fuel cells.  We have made a priority of integrating the technology into product designs that are easy to use and adapt to the products already used by consumers. Some concept designs are shown in the last page of this document. We have also built working prototypes in our laboratories.

 

Highlights

 

  • 11/4/98 - First MicroFuel Cell™ powered cellular telephone calls using a Nokia 6190 cellular telephone. Demonstrated a direct alcohol fuel cell that can provide 120% of the power for a cellular telephone continuously in standby mode with a battery voltage buffer.

  • 7/31/99 - Built a system prototype that provided at least 120% of standby power within case of similar dimensions to existing cellular phone battery packs. Enabled the cellular phone to make at least 15 minutes of calls within a 24 hour period.

  • 2/3/00 - Test device achieved a specific energy output three times greater than standard lithium ion batteries currently used for cellular telephones (300Watt*hrs/kg).  The current levels are 400 Watt*hr/kg with test cells running at ambient conditions on methanol fuel.

  • 1/22/01 - Achieved 0.29 Watt output with a 16 cell array (19cm2) with a single substrate using hydrogen.

  • 2/6/01 - Achieved 0.24 Watt output with a four cell array (29cm2) using a sodium borohydride flat pack.  This is a new, safe hydrogen source that adapts to the MicroFuel Cell™.  From tests with ampoule cells we have achieved a 5.7% hydrogen yield by weight with chemical hydride ampoules.  This translates to a theoretical system estimate of 940 Watt*hr/kg (0.6V/cell).

  • 3/15/01 - Working Power HolsterÔ prototype tested over a six-month period.  The main achievements were: ability to go from test to prototype device, running a cellular phone on standby for 69 hours over a two-week period with less than an ounce of methanol fuel, and no loss of peak power performance observed.

  • 2/04/04 - Developing a wide temperature and fuel range (0-200°C) MicroFuel CellÔ for small applications.

  • 9/13/04 - Continuous running endurance test exceeded 1000 days with four MicroFuel Cell™ test cells and diffusion delivered methanol ampoule.  The milliwatt power output is running a flashing LED.  The cumulative average delivered specific energy is 180Watt*hr/kg of fuel, matching the performance of the best commercial lithium ion batteries.

 

Micro-Fuel Cell Patents
Owned by Manhattan Scientifics

 

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