Posted 04.29.2010 at 4:59 pm
14 Comments
MetalCell
MetalCell gives gives soldiers a charge anywhere. All they need is a little saltwater – or in a pinch, some urine.
If you've got an electronic device, you need power either in the form of a cable or a battery. If you've got a battery, you still need a means of charging it. And if you're in the military, you know that you never have exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Which is why South Korean battery makers have created the MetalCell, a magnesium battery based on 2,000-year-old technology that can be charged with saltwater or, barring that, urine.
MetalCell was designed with militaries in mind; on the modern battlefield, soldiers rely on a growing array of electronics to execute their missions, but when operating in remote areas or cut off from support, those devices can run out of juice at inopportune moments. But MetalCell can sit in the back of a Humvee, in a remote bunker, or in a locker at a forward operating base for years, waiting to power up electrical devices in a pinch.
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Technology, Clay Dillow, baghdad batteries, batteries, battery tech, laptops, military, MREs, power sourcesSoldiers can pool salt from their Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) to create the a proper sodium solution, but failing that, soldiers could also charge up the MetalCell with their urine (and given the blandness of MREs, they might opt to). That's an energy-rich resource a grunt can always lay his hands on.
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MRE's have a great array of flavors and manufacturers have really improved on the taste of them. Besides every soldier knows you make them tastier with tobacco not salt...
Wow, now thats incredible! If only it could fit in my Iphone!
Lou
www.logfiles.net.tc
Excuse me I need to you the washroom.
/flush.
On Topic: Hopefully the MetalCell doesn't stink after a group of guys waters it. Neat Idea though.
I am wondering how many charge cycles it can go through on both fuels. I also wonder if there would be a way to use any sort of chemical reaction to replenish the plates.
Wonderful job.I wonder if it can develop to big scale.what will be the price?
Wonderful job.I wonder if it can develop to big scale.what will be the price?
LOLS..this would be soooo gay...circle piss!
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I can only imagine a stupid soldier pulls down his pants thinking that he needs to fill up the battery so he urinates into one of the live cells and get the shock of his short live...
Ron Bennett
Does anyone know what are the waste products of this reaction. What I am really interested in is if the salt is somehow "used up" creating fresh(er) water as a result. Then you could get fresh water and power. Anyone?
The standard MetalCell model costs about $200 and can be recharged with salt water until the magnesium plates deteriorate. The company is also marketing disposable models that are cheaper — about $120 — and come with salt tablets.
Oh for fucks sake. It's not "recharged" with salt-water or urine. It does not extract energy from salt-water or urine; that's just an electrolyte.
Energy is produced by oxidizing metals like magnesium or aluminium. When the plates have corroded away you buy new ones and replace them.
seriously? they are going to mention MREs and not mention that when you add water to that metal/salt crap in MREs that makes heat, you also release plenty of H?
Hydrogen. i bought MREs from an army surplus store, put that crap in a bottle added some water and it released Hydrogen, which i burned. you dont need a bottle either, i also burned it right from the MRE pouch. the bottle was just so i could bag the gas.
These batteries sound like they could be invaluable for soldiers and anyone not close to a power source.
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