Consumer fuel cells

In search of forever

Jun 12th 2008
From The Economist print edition

As a source of power for cars, fuel cells have been a disappointment. For laptops and mobile phones, they are just about to take off

 Illustration by Stephen Jeffrey

METHANOL is nasty stuff. Careless distillation in many a backwoods still has caused it to blind the imbibers of “alternative” alcoholic drinks. Yet it has its uses, and one of them may be to restore fuel cells to their oft-vaunted role as the power packs of the future—but with a twist. The main role that has been discussed for fuel cells over the past few decades is as replacements for the internal-combustion engine. Their actual use may turn out to be to provide power for portable electronic devices.

A fuel cell is a device that combines hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity. The traditional approach has been to use the gas itself in the cell—and that is the approach taken by the world's carmakers in their so-far not very successful attempts to make a commercial fuel-cell-driven car. Since gaseous hydrogen is hard to store and handle, an alternative that some people have considered is to lock the hydrogen up in methanol, a liquid whose molecules are made of a carbon atom, an oxygen atom and four hydrogen atoms. Methanol will react with water in the form of steam to make hydrogen and carbon dioxide—a process known as steam reformation. Put a steam reformer in a car along with the fuel cell and you can fill the tank with methanol instead of hydrogen.

That idea has not gone very far, either. But it has provoked another thought. What if it were possible to decompose the methanol without steam, and within the fuel cell itself? And that has, indeed, turned out to be possible. The resulting cells are nowhere near powerful enough to run cars, but they are plenty powerful enough to stand in for small batteries. What is more, they last far longer than batteries and when they do need recharging, it is the work of a moment.

Proton power

In a direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) the methanol is oxidised at the anode in the presence of liquid water. The reaction, which requires a catalyst, turns the methanol and water into protons and electrons (in other words, dissociated hydrogen atoms) and carbon dioxide. While the electrons pass along an external circuit as an electric current, the protons diffuse through a membrane to the cathode, where they recombine with the incoming electrons to form hydrogen atoms that react instantly with oxygen to make water. With pleasing symmetry the water is then channelled back to mix with the incoming methanol. Even though DMFCs produce carbon dioxide, the amount is small enough for the cells to count as a much greener technology than batteries. Some companies also think the new cells could be safer than batteries, which can burst into flame if short-circuited.

The efficiency of a DMFC is determined by its membrane. One of the most commonly used sorts is made of Nafion, a polymer developed by DuPont from a variation of Teflon. Nafion, however, can be expensive and it allows some methanol to seep through, which wastes fuel. Researchers are therefore trying to come up with more efficient membranes—and one group, led by Paula Hammond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), appears to have done so.

Dr Hammond and her colleagues used a newish thin-film fabrication technique known as “layer-by-layer”. This repeatedly dips a material into a solution, to build it up one layer at a time, while the properties of the liquid are gradually changed. That enables the structure of the resulting film to be fine tuned. When Dr Hammond coated a Nafion membrane in this way it became less permeable to methanol but kept its ability to transport protons. The effect, which the group reported in a recent issue of Advanced Materials, was to boost the cell's electrical output by more than 50%. The next stage, which the team has now embarked on, is to build complete membranes rather than mere coatings. The researchers think these may be able to work as proton-exchange membranes in their own right.

Squeeze me, please me

Toshiba, a large Japanese electronics firm, reckons that DMFCs can be used to produce mobile devices that have no need for batteries at all. In its latest investment plan, it says it will begin making such cells within a year for mobile phones and laptops. Sharp, one of its rivals, recently said that it had developed new microfabrication techniques to build DMFCs with the highest power densities yet achieved. Sharp reckons this will enable it to produce cells that are the same size as the lithium-ion batteries used in mobile devices, but which can run those devices for much longer. Some in the industry talk of mobile phones capable of operating continuously for several weeks before their fuel cells need topping up.

The most likely way that topping up will be done is with a cartridge of methanol that is inserted into the device and replaced when it is running low. As portable devices become more sophisticated, with added functions and large colour screens, they are draining batteries faster. MTI Micro, an American company, has put its version of a DMFC into satellite-navigation devices, which are often used for long periods. The company says it can run even a power-hungry model for up to 60 hours before the gadget needs refuelling.

Longer life is a big appeal; some people would like to run their laptops continuously on a 12-hour flight. Hence, new rules are being drawn up for aircraft. America's Department of Transportation is planning a rule change from October 1st to allow passengers and crew to bring fuel-cell-powered electronic devices and one or two fuel cartridges on board in their carry-on baggage. To qualify, the devices will have to meet certain safety standards. It is proposed that each passenger would be limited to about 200ml of fuel.

Successful work like that at MIT will help to make DMFCs cheaper and more efficient, which will, in turn, make them even more attractive as power sources for portable devices. Already, some companies are predicting that sales of refuelling cartridges could run into the billions within a few years of them coming into the market. Forget, then, the familiar cry: “Has anyone got a charger I can borrow?” It will be replaced by: “Can you spare me a squirt of methanol?”—and that won't mean in your hooch.

Source

www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11529364

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx

Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Aishwaria - Amitabh - Abhishak

Papa control karo, 

 aapki bahuu hai .

(Papa please control.................. she's your daughter in law)

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A post on my buddy's site... 

http://www.e-rinascita.com/post/Types-of-developers.aspx

At 5.15 p.m. June 4, I stopped at Plaza, in front of the Polani Motors on Karachi’s busiest thoroughfare, the M.A. Jinnah Road, to have my car’s electric window repaired. Soon, I was mobbed by some seven to eight people, who insisted that I get some door rubbers installed. I refused but they started the work nevertheless.

Quickly, I found myself trapped, with these people doing all sorts of work on the car, not listening to my command, directions and pleadings. These people had me so placed that I could not run, scream or phone anybody, even though I was on the busiest road of Karachi. By all means, I was held hostage by them.

Then it was crunch time. Their boss handed me small piece of paper. It was a bill for Rs25,600. He literally ordered me to pay. Yes! You read it correctly, Rs25,600 for work I did not order and I did not know anything about — for installing some rubbers on the doors.

Their boss ordered me to get to the nearest ATM and pay the amount. There are several ATMs in and around Plaza but I stalled. The heavily-guarded portion of Abdullah Haroon Road was my safest bet. I told him, albeit correctly, that my bank was located near the Metropole Hotel and I could not withdraw the amount from One Link ATMs. This was not true, of course.

The head honcho, with a menacing look on his face, sat on the passenger seat of my car, while his colleague sat in the seat behind me as we drove to the ABN-Amro Bank near the US Consulate-General. I told the two to stay seated, inserted my card in the door and entered the bank.

I alerted the bank guards and officials and rang up my editor. I also tried 15, which nobody picked. Soon the police arrived and the two men in my car were escorted to the Artillery Maidan Police Station, in front of the Governor’s House. There our crime reporter handled the issue. The agony was finally over.

I learnt that a gang was operating at the Plaza and had robbed several people, charging, in one case Rs40,000 for installing door rubbers. I have heard of three similar cases. In one instance they went to the victim’s house to get the money. I was indeed lucky.

There are currently many more members of the gang who are still at large. It would be a good idea to inform your friends and colleagues to avoid the area.

Source: http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=117164

For its next-generation application, XYZZY Software Inc. decided to do a major overhaul using the latest and greatest “best practices” framework for enterprise applications: Plugh Version 2009.

To do the prototype, XYZZY hires Luke, a bright young developer who has been using Plugh for at least six months. In no time at all, Luke whips up a working example of what the application might look like — well, three pages of it anyway. Everyone who sees it says “ooh” and “aah” and wants to know how long it will take to convert the entire application — salespeople in particular show special interest in that question. Luke (who knows very little about the existing application but has seen the regular demo) tosses out “oh, probably about six months.”

This becomes a war cry for the sales force. They descend on all levels of management with cries of, “Luke says it can be done in six months! We desperately need this new look and feel ASAP in order to compete!” Upper management asks the Director of Development if this really can be achieved so quickly.

During a development meeting, the old-guard programmers lay out all the (known) complexities of the existing system in order to show Luke how far off he is in his projection. The Director of Development (who doesn’t want upper management to think he’s being a nonagile wet blanket about the project) coaxes everyone to agree that it can be done in two years. Of course, they’ll have to release an interim version of the company’s current product in one year for regulatory changes and bug fixes, so there will be ongoing parallel development.

Management, marketing, and sales approve of the plan — after sales gets three months trimmed off the schedule so they can have a beta version ready by their annual conference. Development doesn’t feel very good about the adjustment, but they figure they can just work extra hard to make that deadline — and maybe leave a few of the lesser-used features out of the beta if necessary.

A new team is formed, and Luke is named the lead programmer. The team also includes several of the old-guard programmers, a couple of testers, a documentation specialist, and a project manager. They set right to work.

The team soon discovers that not all areas of the application easily translate into the Plugh framework. When they attempt to define the requirements of these sections, they realize that no one who is still at the company really knows what that code is supposed to do. They get existing customers involved in the discussion, which leads to the startling discovery that nobody agrees on whether the current behavior is a bug or a feature.

Six months into the project, they only have several more input forms developed than Luke had in his original prototype. It’s clear that the prototype didn’t do everything that will be required of the same pages in the full version. The security and internationalization mechanisms of the existing system will not migrate to Plugh, and the replacements have not even been pondered. Luke finds himself in a maze of twisty little requirements, none of which are alike. Sales is still telling customers it will be ready by next year’s conference, but upper management is getting nervous. Development insists they can keep the project on schedule, but management demands a reality check.

The employees decide to call in an outside consultant to validate their plan. After spending several days examining both the old and nascent forms of the application, talking to users and developers, and crunching the numbers, the consultant renders this verdict:

“Your current approach is doomed to failure. From the sheer size of the project, it will take at least three, possibly four, years to even get to a usable beta version — depending on how many other unspecified requirements you run into along the way. Throwing more developers on the project will not help. But I can recommend a different approach that will make incremental improvements to your existing application and allow you to release a new version every year without massively parallel development.”

The employees (except sales) breathe sighs of relief. And even the sales team is mollified when the consultant shows that the very first incremental improvement could be to the portion of the application in which users spend 80 to 90 percent of their time and which would make a great demo if it weren’t so ugly today.

Whether XYZZY Software followed the plan laid out by the consultant is not as important as the fact that the employees listened to what she said not to do.

Prior to the meeting, at least 20 employees knew the project was headed off the rails, so why didn’t anyone sound the alarm? Because they worried whether being the naysayer would damage their career. Their fear kept them silent and prevented them from thinking about alternative solutions; instead, these employees focused all their energies on achieving the impossible.

Truth in fiction

Even though there is no XYZZY Software or Plugh development framework, I have seen this same story play out many times. I have played the part of Luke, the Director of Development, and the consultant (though I’ve never been a woman, but I have played one on stage — that’s an entirely different story).

Unfortunately, many of these scenarios do not turn out as happily as the tale of XYZZY Software. I have seen some companies sink several years and millions of dollars into these types of projects before coming to their senses. I genuinely feel so badly for them that I don’t even smile when I say “I told you so.”

An outside consultant can provide the voice of disinterested honesty. If the client doesn’t like what you have to say, the most you lose is the engagement. If they listen to you and it doesn’t work, things could get ugly. You’re not part of the protected herd of employees who will be all too happy to blame you. So, you’re incented to be as honest as possible about what will and will not work. Also, be sure to keep yourself out of office politics. Obviously, you’re going to feel beholden foremost to the person who signs your checks, but the best service you can provide the client is to tell it like it is.

There are many more companies that never even call in a consultant to tell them so. And there are some consultants who don’t have the backbone to tell their clients that they’re making a colossal mistake.