Canon creating Fuel Cell Powered DSLRs

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Aiming to bring fuel cell power into DSLRs and other small electronics, Canon

has submitted a patent application using the technology to power the company's

smaller devices.

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While a fuel cell powered DSLR may have issues due to varying load currents and

uneven gas densities, Canon claims that they have addressed the problem. The

Canon system claims to counteract the sudden fluctuations that can occur during

mirror operations with a DSLR, with the design of a lightweight system.

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More: <a

href="http://www.photographybay.com/2008/05/19/canon-fuel-cell-dslr/">Photography

Bay</a>

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<a

href="http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080081236&OS=20080081236&RS=20080081236">

US Patent Application</a>

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They've talked about this before. As far as I can tell, it's really a solution in search of a problem. They demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell powered camera at a photo show in Japan back in 2005.

 

 

 

I can't say I'm having much of a problem with rechargeable Li-ion cells in my cameras. Maybe in my car a fuel cell could make sense, but I can't really see the point in a camera. Perhaps Canon are smarter than I am, or perhaps they think they can capture the "green camera" market. After all, what self respecting Prius owner could not also have a fuel cell powered camera if one was available?

 

Fuel cells may have potentially higher capacity than Li-ion cells, but unless you're on a track across the Sahara dessert or some such similar location, that's not much of an issue since you can typically get 500 shots or more out of conventional batteries.

 

Maybe Canon have some power hungry features in mind, such as shooting real time video with a 12MP DSLR. With the LCD on and the sensor running flat out, that could suck up serious battery power.

<p>Oh, great. Hydrogen fuel cells emit water. Now we'll have people posting about how Canon needs to seal their cameras to prevent them from watering themselves!</p>

Seems unnecessary- where does the hydrogen come from? Using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for use in a fuel cell is way less efficient than using electricity directly to charge a battery.

Will you be allowed to take them on a plane?

<i>Maybe in my car a fuel cell could make sense, but I can't really see the point in a camera. </i>

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Cameras aren't even mentioned in the patent --- that's a spin the photography-oriented publication gave it. The glacial pace of impreovement in battery technology is the Achilles heel of consumer electronics in general though. If they can make fuel cells work on that scale it could be a huge step forward.

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Fuel cells aren't going to work for cars for infrastructure reasons.

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<i>

Using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for use in a fuel cell is way less efficient than using electricity directly to charge a battery.

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Efficiency has nothing to do with it. Storage capacity is what they're going for.

As Roger said, H/O2 fuel cells are very inefficient. It takes almost three times the energy to create the hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell than is won from a fuel cell. Now, that problem might be alleviated if we run a hose to the nearest gas nebula!

 

So Mark, I guess the waining supply of fossil fuels is trivial? Efficency is very important. Alt least for the future of the planet.

Sony and Apple have been working on fuel cells for the last several years. Sony

showed a prototype hybrid fuel cell system last month that is 1.2 by 2 inches.

<P>From a review at electronista.com: "The active fuel cell system uses methanol as

fuel, and earns the hybrid designation as the output is complemented with a Li-polymer

secondary battery. Traditional fuel cells produce electricity from various external

quantities of fuel, and last for long amounts of time, but constantly require re-fueling,

while Sony's prototype could operate by storing the produced charge in its integrated

battery."