Fuel Cell Portfolio

Fuel cells have long been an attractive power source or storage mechanism for automobiles, grid backup, mobile phones, and more recently, drones/UAVs. Fuel cells perform better than lithiumion batteries as the fuel source can be replenished quickly, leading to near instantaneous recharge times. PEM fuel cells are particularly attractive versus other types of cells due to their lower operating temperatures (less than 70° C) and their ability to convert multiple fuels into usable electric energy. The fuel sources include methanol in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) or pure hydrogen. Methanol is an attractive fuel source due to its availability and transportability, though cells running on pure hydrogen have historically shown better performance characteristics. Many products are now available that rely on processing stored hydrogen into usable electricity. The portfolio consists of fifty (50) US patent families containing fifty-three (53) granted US patents related to fuel cell technology, more specifically PEM fuel cell technology focusing on the fuel cell stack build and dynamic power control techniques.