#447: Internal micro-combustion engine to replace fuel cells

“New Scientist” dated 19 June 2004 has just arrived at my desk a few days ago. I was very busy
this week and I had a chance to have a little time to read it only today. Nowadays, everybody
knows about fuel cells and what is called Nano-technology. So, people automatically think that
they will dominate the small electrical or electronic devices such as portable telephone devices
and personal computers and so on.

Which is true and not true also? Let me quote some parts of the some parts of the article as
follows:

“You might think that we already burn hydrocarbons in enough places on Earth. The planet‟s
roars are nose to tail with engines designed to turn fossil fuels into usable energy, polluting our
cities with gases and loading the atmosphere with global-warming carbon. The same polluting
hydrocarbon fuels feed many of our power stations and heat most of our homes. Well, now
there‟s a plan to burn hydrocarbons literally anywhere and everywhere. But before you throw up
your hands in horror, listen to the reasons why and see if you don‟t agree that it could, in fact, be
rather a neat idea.

“The problem is that batteries are lousy power sources. For today‟s mobile electronic devices,
the limiting factor is the battery: there‟s just not enough juice for a given size and weight.
Lithium-ion batteries have an energy density of 1.2 mega joules per kilogram, and alkaline
batteries are only half as good. But your average liquefied hydrocarbon, such as propane or
butane, contains an astounding 45 mega joules per kilogram.
“Several teams of researchers are drooling over that figure and working out how to replace the
batteries in mobile phones, laptops and other portable electronics with power sources that run on
fossil fuels. „Unfortunately, the goal is to be able to make millions of these cheaply, like you
make Bick lighters or disposable batteries,‟ says Paul Ronny of the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles. „You can imagine, say, Intel, teaming up with Bick.‟
“If the researchers can get these power sources to work, our not-so-mobile devices would finally
escape the grip of the electricity grid. Macro-power generations might power the machines
directly, or be used as portable charges for the battery. Either way, we and our machines would
at least be free. If you fancy a day in the park as you type up your presentation, a pocket-sized
capsule of propane will give you all the power you need.

“The race to develop the micro-power generators that will make batteries obsolete has only just
got off the starting blocks, so no one is sure of the best way to do it. Perhaps the most direct
approach takes its cue from the technology that dominates at the macro scale − the internal
combustion engines. For a given size, internal combustion engines generate the most power of
any device. Combine this with the high energy density of hydrocarbons and the reason petrol and
diesel engines rule the roost become clear.

The article introduces four different types of micro-combustion or micro-engines as follows:

1) Methanol reformer: Built at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, this device produces
hydrogen from methanol to power a fuel cell. Expected output 500 mill watts, enough to power a
mobile phone.
2) Mini-rotary engine: An internal combustion engine about 2cm across built at the University of
California, Berkley, has produced 10 watts of power. The goal is 30 − 60 watts, enough for a
laptop.
3) The gas turbine: Created at MIT, this turbine can produce 17 watts of usable power.
4) The Swiss roll: Being investigated at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and
the California Institute for Technology. Burn fuel such as propane in a central combustion
chamber. The heat produced can be converted to electricity by thermoelectric element in the
walls. Alternatively, the heat can warm a solid oxide fuel cell at the center. Output 100 − 300
mill watts.

Nowadays, there are too many reports and episodes regarding newly born Nano-technology in
almost all science magazines in the whole world. But when I contact the inventors, I find most of
the new technologies reported are either too early to commercialize or the world is not yet ready
to use them. So, I personally feel that the conventional but new micro-combustion as reported in
the above article seems even more realistic as all introduced here is just a question of size.
Personally I am interested in mini-rotary engine and the Swiss roll.