Miniature gas turbines could provide portable power, replace batteries in electronic devices

This is a potential contender for replacing batteries and could compete with micro fuel cell technology that is now emerging. One advantage of micro-electromechanical systems technology is that it can also be powered by hydrogen, just like fuel cells, meaning that the exhaust would be primarily water. The drawback is that the fuel source for MEMS systems is flammable, meaning that such portable power devices may not be allowed on airplanes or other places where explosives might pose a safety risk.

• Skip directly to: Search Box, Section Navigation, Content.
• The electronics industry has raised miniaturisation to a fine art, with phones, computers and other devices all small enough to slip into a pocket.
• However, all are dependent on bulky, short-life batteries.
• Now two Melbourne engineers are working on the demise of batteries, at least in high-value applications, with a radical plan to make miniature gas turbines the size of a shirt button.
• The turbines could offer significant advantages, according to Ralph Collins and Bernie Mace, the founders of Micromachines.
• They could power all sorts of portable electronic devices and would probably be useful in many military devices carried by soldiers in the field.
• Turbines can run on many fuels, but Mr Collins said that if they were powered by hydrogen, the exhaust would comprise a few drops of water.
• They would be made of advanced ceramics, which have superior heat and strength properties when a rotor is spinning at more than 2 million revolutions a minute.
• Mr Collins and Mr Mace started working on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) after they came across a patent for a miniature gas turbine in the US Patents Office.
• The Melbourne engineers devised a bladeless rotor driven by that same surface drag and proved the theory in a working model.
• Five countries have already granted them patents, including the US, Britain and Australia.
• Both recognise that the MEMS generator is a fair way off, so Micromachines proposes to offer licences to companies that might want to make a "giant" version of the bladeless turbine.
• Advertisement: FREE Daily Shares & Options Report.