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Apple patents fuel-cell Macbook chargers

Teaser
Apple filed a patent in 2010 on Fuel-Cell Technology, which would power the MacBook laptops for days or even weeks

Apple now plans for a more durable battery and provide their users with a backup of weeks rather than hours. Recently Apple has filed a patent on fuel cell- technologies for powering their portable computing devices. The company is looking forward to this possibility of producing MacBook laptops with a long runtime.

AppleInsider has spotted the patents named as Fuel Cell System to power a Portable computing Device and Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device. These patents were filed in 2010 by Apple and point to growing interest in the use of hydrogen fuel-cell as hydrogen is a clean, renewable fuel and is capable of being a source for future gadgets.

The details of the patent filings also say that a portable computer by a hydrogen fuel cell system will be able to power a device for days or even weeks. This will be a significant improvement over the current battery MacBook is equipped with.

There is also an interesting part about the patent Apple filed, as the battery they are already using in their portable device, they will use the same to kick start the reaction in the fuel cell. With this technique it removes the need to use a bulky and expensive battery in the fuel cell unit itself, and reducing the cost and weight.

Apart from all this there has not been any news from Apple yet as when they will be bringing this technology to the market. However the company also has a history of filing defensive patents on technologies. It might be one such as the patent was filed in 2010 and till now no news about any sort related to this patent. So there is no way to guarantee that we may get a chance to see such a device soon.

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Pallab Jyotee Hazarika, 2011-12-24 (Update: 2012-05-26)