Manhattan Scientifics Inc. (Los Alamos, NM) announced that it has obtained a new US patent for a large non-bipolar fuel cell stack configuration covering further applications of its MicroFuel Cell for portable electronics devices including household power generators and power tools. US patent number 6,194,095 was issued to Robert Hockaday and is assigned to and owned by Manhattan Scientifics, which owns exclusive rights to all of Hockaday's fuel cell patents.
The new patent extends the MicroFuel Cell principles established in earlier patents. It covers methods of stacking electrically parallel modules to obtain a high-current capacity and demonstrates how individual fuel cells may be configured into a stack to create higher capacity systems. The fuel cells are formed on large plastic sheets in arrays, which the company claims enables a low-cost manufacturing process suitable for large-volume applications.
“We're working towards an affordable and environmentally clean energy source for smaller, portable applications," stated Robert Hockaday, chief micro-fuel cell scientist for Manhattan Scientifics. This patent is the fourth one granted in connection with Hockaday's development of the MicroFuel Cell, which he also invented.
