Entry Date:
August 23, 2005

Alternatives for Micro Power Generation Processes

Principal Investigator Paul Barton


Currently, the predominant technologies for autonomous portable power supply in the 0.1-10 W range are batteries. However, the energy densities (Wh/kg or Wh/l) that can be achieved by batteries are limited. The electrochemical conversion of hydrocarbons or alcohols in fuel cells has the potential to yield much higher energy densities than batteries provided that the power generation equipment can be miniaturized to such an extent that the weight/volume of the fuel dominates. A multidisciplinary team at MIT is currently undertaking a broad research program to develop fundamental understanding of fuel processing and fuel cells at the millimeter to micron scale and to establish the engineering principles needed to realize portable electrical power generation from fuel sources. As most alternatives involve some combination of fuel processing and a fuel cell, we use the term micro power generation processes.

The laboratory is responsible for the systems engineering of the micro power generation processes. A major issue is that of heat generation and integration because the requirement for autonomous operation means that the process must run independently of external heat sources. It is therefore necessary to identify the heat integrated process alternative that maximizes the energy density. The problem is also highly constrained by the range of practical devices that can be fabricated at the micro scale and the very high rates of heat loss to the environment.