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Article: Portable fuel cells. (Down the Line).
- Article from:
- Assembly
- Article date:
- August 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 BNP Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Some day, fuel cells may replace rechargeable batteries in laptop computers, power tools, household appliances and other portable devices. Traditionally, fuel cells require large, bulky stacks. But, a team of researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, Pasadena, CA) have created a compact, flat fuel cell.
"This is a significant advance in fuel cell development because by going small, you make the fuel cell portable and viable for use as a power source to operate small appliances that require long operating time, such as laptops," says Dr. Sekharipuram Narayanan, JPL's fuel cell technical team leader. "Instead of recharging your laptop every 2 hours, ...