High-Tech Fuel Cells To Power Laptop Computers

Brain cell power: laptops could be driven efficiently by an ultra-compact alternative to rechargeable batteries developed by UK company CMR Fuel Cells. Among those working on the project is Michael Priestnall (right), CMR’s chief technology officer, pictured with Michael Evans, the Cambridge company’s engineering director

NEW-GENERATION fuel cells look set to replace rechargeable batteries in laptop computers, following work carried out by an innovative company in the field.

The laptops could soon be powered by an ultra-compact, highly efficient patented alternative to the batteries that has been developed by Cambridge-based company CMR Fuel Cells of the United Kingdom.

Now, users will not need to switch off their laptop and find somewhere to plug it into a power supply to recharge the battery; they will be able to carry on working. The power is provided by a small cartridge of methanol fuel. When it runs out, the user can simply slot another one into the onboard fuel cell unit - just like putting a refill in a pen.

CMR engineers are working on prototypes that promise to be much smaller, lighter, cheaper and more efficient than conventional fuel cells or today’s lithium-ion batteries. The company has collaborative agreements to adapt the technology for major PC and laptop manufacturers in Korea and Japan.

CMR is also part of a working group formed by Intel that is specifying this next generation of portable power sources and it expects the technology to become available in mass-market products from 2010.

In coming up with a design that had not been thought of before, CMR’s founders trawled through thousands of patents and academic papers, some dating from 50 years ago. Working with Cambridge-based Nash Matthews and other firms of patent attorneys in the United States and the UK, CMR is now establishing a portfolio of its own patents that will give it exclusive rights to its novel technology in the company’s priority markets, globally.

Michael Priestnall, now CMR’s chief technology officer, came up with the idea for a better, small fuel cell as a result of explaining to his colleague, Mike Evans, at Cambridge consultancy Sagentia (then called Scientific Generics) why fuel cells had to be so bulky.

“It wasn’t so much a eureka moment as a eureka week or two,” said Priestnall. “Over a coffee, I’d been answering Mike’s question about the differences between car engines and fuel cells, and why the fuel cell principle depended on keeping the fuel intake totally separate from the oxidant intake.

“It occurred to me that if you could find an alternative to the normal catalyst - platinum, which is used on both sides of a fuel cell - you could select a specific catalyst for each of the anode and cathode of the fuel cell, and that would mean you would no longer need to keep the fuel and air separate.”

Michael Priestnall then set about investigating the feasibility of his idea. His first task was to check that it really was new. His search of 20,000 patents and other records narrowed the field down to some 35 patents and papers that merited further investigation. From this, it appeared that there was a real opportunity to come up with something novel and also - critically important - achieve patent protection for it.

“We needed to be very confident about our IP [intellectual property] position,” he added. “Our patents are very fundamental in the fuel cells market. We now have patents granted in China and Australia and expect to have them soon in the USA and, eventually, Europe. Our patent attorneys are experts and we work closely with them to achieve the protection we need, without it costing the earth.”

Although laptop computers will be the first mass-market application for CMR’s compact fuel cells, many other potential customers are also interested in low-cost fuel cells that can operate on high-energy fuels.

According to Martin Lipscombe, patent attorney at Nash Matthews, CMR’s strong IP position will allow it to exploit other markets and use fuels other than methanol.

He said: “The core concepts that CMR have patented can apply to any fuel cell. If CMR don’t want to enter other markets at this stage, they have the potential to generate good revenue streams from licensing their technology to other manufacturers who may be targeting applications such as mobile phones, standby power units or even automotive - electric scooters, for example.”

Fuel cells have been around since UK scientist William Grove published the first paper describing a hydrogen-oxygen platinum fuel cell in 1839, although it took until the 1960s for them to become a practicable proposition.

Similar to batteries, they deliver a constant electrical current, but differ from batteries in that they produce electricity from external supplies of fuel (on the anode side) and oxidant (on the cathode side). These react electrochemically in the presence of a catalyst.

The reactants flow in and reaction products flow out, while the chemical energy is converted directly and very efficiently to electricity. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained. Their big advantages are high efficiency, silent operation and low emissions.

Until now, the main challenges for fuel cells have been their high cost and low performance. They use expensive, precious metal catalysts and have much lower power densities than conventional engines.

Patent attorneys (formerly known as patent agents) have qualified by experience and examination for entry of their name on the Register of Patent Attorneys. They are specially trained and experienced in the art of drafting patents and in knowledge of intellectual property law.

The attorneys are entitled to deal with related areas of law such as designs, copyright and trademarks as well as patents. Most members are also chartered patent attorneys, European patent attorneys, and registered trademark agents.

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) is the professional body representing them in the UK and was founded in 1882. Most patent applications in the UK and Europe are submitted by such attorneys on behalf of clients.

Entry on the Register of Patent Attorneys provides its members with the right to conduct litigation and to act as advocates in the patents county court. Fellows of the CIPA can also acquire an additional qualification (litigator’s certificate) entitling them also to conduct litigation in the Chancery Division of the High Court (including the patents court) and to conduct appeals in respect of IP litigation.

英国开发出高科技的笔记本电脑燃料电池

英国的电池能源：英国CMR燃料电池公司即将开发出一种高性能超紧凑型的燃料电池，有望替代笔记本电脑上的充电电池。图为参与这一项目开发的CMR 的技术总监Michael Priestnall（右）与剑桥公司的工程部总监Michael Evans

燃料电池领域的一家科技创新公司成功研制出新一代燃料电池，有望代替笔记本电脑上的充电电池。

不久的将来，由位于英国剑桥的CMR燃料电池公司开发的高性能超紧凑型专利产品将替代笔记本电脑上的充电电池。

如今，电脑用户再也没有必要中断工作，关掉笔记本电脑找地方为电脑电池充电了。新燃料电池的能源来自于一节小小的甲醇燃料电池，当电量用完时，用户只需要将另一块电池插入电池组的凹槽处即可，就像为笔更换笔芯一样简单。

CMR承诺要开发出这样一种比传统燃料电池或现在的锂离子蓄电池体积更小、质量更轻的廉价而高效能的高科技燃料电池。目前，该公司已经立下合约，将他们的这项技术应用于韩国和日本大型个人电脑和笔记本制造商的产品。

CMR是英国英特尔公司为开发新一代便携式能源而专门设立的一个工作团体。他们希望这项技术尽快成熟，争取能在2010年迈向大众市场。

在开发新一代燃料电池这一理念尚未确立之前，CMR的创始人搜集了成千上百份相关的资料和科学论文，有些甚至可以追溯到50年之前。通过与剑桥的Nash Matthews公司和美国及英国其他的专利代理人机构的合作，如今的CMR已经开创了自己独有的专利，从而赋予了该企业创新性技术优先打入全球市场这一独一无二的权力。

CMR的现任技术总监Michael Priestnall产生开发一种性能更高、体积更小的燃料电池的灵感，来自于他的一次向来自剑桥思佳咨询公司（后更名为思佳创新科技顾问公司）的Mike Evans解释能源燃料电池的体积为什么要这么大的时候而产生的。

Priestnall形容说：“这不足以用尤里卡时刻来形容，而是一个或两个‘尤里卡周’。我用一杯咖啡的时间，回答了Mike的关于汽车发动机和燃料电池的区别以及为什么燃料电池组的使用依赖于空气和燃料的完全分离。这使我想到了一个问题，如果找到一种能替代传统铂催化剂的物质作用于燃料电池的两极，可能就需要找出一种特定的催化剂，这也就意味着空气和燃料混合的新型电池组有可能诞生。”

之后，Michael Priestnall便开始着手调查这一理念的可操作性。第一步他要确认这是一种全新的想法。基于对2万项专利品和其他相关资料的分析，他最后锁定了30项专利品和相关论文，并对此展开深入研究。这为他们以后开展创新性技术，尤为重要的是为他们获取项目的专利保护权开辟了真正的机遇。

他解释说：“我们应该对自己的知识产权地位有十足的信心。我们的专利品在燃料电池市场上有着非常大的影响。现在我们已经获取了中国和澳大利亚的专利权，并希望在不久的将来获取美国乃至整个欧洲的专利权。我们将与这些专业的专利律师队伍密切合作，来获取我们所需要不接地燃料电池的产权保护。”
尽管CMR开发的压缩型燃料电池将会被首先大规模地运用于笔记本电脑的大众化市场，而其他的潜在客户也表示出了他们对这种低成本、高效能燃料电池的极大兴趣。

Nash Matthews的产权代理人Martin Lipscombe表示，CMR坚实的知识产权地位将有利于其拓展甲醇燃料市场以外的其他市场。

他说：“CMR取得专利的核心理念适用于其他任何的燃料电池。如果CMR不准备在这一阶段打入其他市场的话，他们有可能通过将自己的技术转让给其他应用燃料电池的目标产品如手机、备用电池组乃至汽车、电动三轮车的制造商而获取丰厚的收益。”

燃料电池时代大约开始于1839年英国科学家William Grove发表第一篇论文介绍铂选择催化氢氧燃料电池，尽管直到20世纪60年代这一理念才被运用于实践。

与电池的相似之处是，他们会产生恒定电流。不同之处在于，他们通过外部的燃料供应（阳极）和氧化剂（阴极）来产生电流。这是一个在催化剂作用下产生电化学反应的过程。

其工作原理是，通过反应物的导入和生成物的导出，直接将化学能源转化成高效能的电流。燃料电池实际上就是将持续的化学能转变为持续的电流。高效能、无噪音、低排放是这一技术最为突出的几大优点。

迄今为止，燃料电池所面临的主要挑战即是成本高、性能低。由于贵金属材料用作催化剂，燃料电池的费用比传统发动机的运行成本昂贵，并且产生的能力密度也相对较低。
专利律师（以前被称为专利代理人）从经验上来说已经有实力跨入注册专利代理人的行列。他们受到过特殊的培训，在起草专利和知识产权法律知识方面很有经验。

律师有权处理相关法律方面的案件，如专利的构思、版权、商标等。绝大多数成员同时也被授予专利律师、欧洲专利律师以及注册商标代理商。

特许专利律师协会成立于1882年，是英国代表专利从业者的职业团体。英国乃至欧洲绝大多数的专利申请都需要交付类似的机构代表委托人进行处理。

申请成为注册专利代理人之后，会员将被授予接手起诉案件的权利，并在专利地方民事法院担当辩护人。特许专利律师协会的会员同样也会得到其他的资格（诉讼资格证书），在高等法院大法官法庭（包括地方专利法庭）受理诉讼案件，并有权对有关知识产权起诉案件进行上诉。