Posted on Monday, December 26 2011 @ 22:45 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Hexus
noticed Apple has filed two patents for MacBooks powered by fuel cells. Fuell cells for notebooks are nothing new, but it remains to be seen if a company will be able to succesfully commercialize the technology for laptops.
Apple is looking at ways to improve battery life in future MacBooks and other devices through the use of fuel cell technology.
Two recently uncovered patent filings by Apple, entitled Fuel Cell Systems to Power Portable Computing Device and Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device, reveal that fuel cells would extend the battery life of devices substantially.
Due to the relatively small size and weight of fuel cells, it would also allow the company to produce smaller and lighter notebooks.
Though Apple expresses concerns that creating hydrogen fuel cell systems could be costly, it goes into detail in the filing with a number of illustrations showing how it could power a device.
