Portable power plants
The Mobile Power Box has been developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar energy systems ISE working in cooperation with the firm of Masterflex. It is a membrane fuel cell system supplying mains-free energy in the medium power range.
The unit produces electricity from hydrogen released by replaceable metal-hydride tanks of various sizes. With 300 W-hour hydrogen storage, a laptop can be run for up to ten hours which is five times longer than with a conventional battery. So far, the unit is achieving a continuous power of over 50 W and can handle peaks of over 100 W.
A higher power is planned so that devices such as printers and beamers can be supplied with power for prolonged periods.
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