My Eye-Catching News 2-2

1: Fujikura Ltd. revealed a methanol fuel cell having a remarkably improved power generation density. The power generation density is about 5 times of the conventional methanol fuel cell. The output power of the fuel cell is 8 times (20 watts) of the conventional fuel cell.
[THE NIKKAN KOGYO SHIMBUN, LTD.]

2: Pony Electric Co., Ltd has developed a new power converter designed in use for fuel cells.
Unique features:
1) A novel and creative soft switching technology is used.
2) The energy loss is reduced by 20 percents when compared with that of the conventional converter.
The new technology based prototype converter is under performance evaluation.
[THE NIKKAN KOGYO SHIMBUN, LTD.]
Pony Electric Co., Ltd.：http://www.pony-e.jp/Corp.htm

3: Ultra Compact Gas-Liquid Separator for Heat Pump Systems
Most conventional gas-liquid separator is of the tubular type which utilizes gravity or centrifugal force. It is limited in its installation place because of its large volume.
The gas-liquid separator developed this time utilizes a surface tension, which is dominant when the thickness or the cross section diameter of the separator is small. With use of the surface tension, the volume of the gas-liquid separator is reduced to be 1/7 of the conventional tubular gas-liquid separator.
The fact shows that the gas-liquid separator will satisfy the demands of size-reduction, power- and cost-saving.
It is demonstratively proved that the gas-liquid separator is capable of separating gas and liquid even in the case of a mass flow of 100 g/s. Accordingly, it is allowed to design the gas-liquid separator in accordance with real machine conditions.
The gas-liquid separator has a structure suitable for mass production and its design is also suitable for mass production. It is expected that the gas-liquid separator is applied not only to refrigeration and air conditioning, but also to the heat-pump systems using the gas-liquid two-phase flow in various fields, including chemistry, food, medical science, automobile, and energy equipment.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
[NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization)]