LG Chem Delivers Methanol Power With Punch
You power up your new notebook, and sit back with a smug and contented sigh. You haven't felt this good since "Savage Garden" announced their music retirement. A spacious hard drive, top end processor, and a crisp 17 inch widescreen display, this laptop is gorgeous, and so it should be - You just spent almost four grand on this puppy.....But wait.....You see a few blemishes on the display! - Are these just harmless specks of dust, or is your notebook computer screen suffering from infamous Dead Pixel syndrome?
It's atitanic product fiendishly disguised in a tiny parcel. Korea'slargest chemical company, LG Chem, Ltd., has pulled out all thestops with its latest -- the development of a portable fuel cellfor laptops -- and plans to put its newest product on thecommercial market by the end of 2005.
The Seoul-based company's methanol fuel cells last for more than4,000 hours - they say eight times longer than competitors' fuelcells.
And, just one fuel cell cartridge (with a 200cc capacity) canpower a 25W laptop for nearly 11 hours - certainly worth braggingrights in the ever-growing mobile world of cutting-edgetechnology.
The demand for incomparable power, ease of handling, and highperformance were the main factors in developing the unique fuelcell system, which runs solely on methanolfuel.
Even more exceptional is the size of this miniature monster:packaged in an unassuming-sized (less than 1 liter per fuel cell,and weighing in at less than 1 kg), this bantam-sized wonderpacks some serious punch, requiring only a cartridge exchange tokeep it running for more than 11 hours straight, making it theworld's largest power output among its kind. Also, the fuelcell system will be able to service powerful PMPs, DMBs,phones and laptops simply by plugging in a USB port.
And as power demand increases, as it always will, LG Chem won'tbe left behind -- it has plans in the wings to further developvarious fuel cells able to generate power ranging from 5W to50W.
The global demand for portable fuel cells in 2006 is estimatedto reach $600 million: looks like LG Chem is ahead of thecompetition already. Portable fuel cells for laptops are almosthere.
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