已经推广了超过十年的氢燃料电池被视为取之不尽的能源，但这项技术似乎总是过度承诺，而且并没有全面开始供应；尽管如此，为了实现“燃料电池黄金时代”的美梦，其拥护者不断检视产业现况、改变业务策略，也坚持继续研发，可惜该市场仍面临产品延迟上市以及需求有限的窘境。
在数家专注于可携式燃料电池市场的厂商中，日本业者 Rohm 最近的动作引人瞩目，该公司并非拋弃了该业务，而是决定改变焦点。Rohm同时也是半导体与被动组件制造厂，专长于碳化硅(SiC)功率组件，在燃料电池市场其实不出名，但该公司与一家日本新创公司Aquafairy还有京都大学(Kyoto University)联手，开发出固态的氢燃料电池。
Rohm最近接受EETimes美国版编辑专访，透露了该公司在不到一年的时间内，决定将燃料电池技术焦点转向智能手机应用的移动电源。
其他如新加坡Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies、瑞典myFC以及美商Lilliputian Systems等仍坚守可携式燃料电池设备领域的供货商，一直面临价格更便宜、普及率更高的传统电池之威胁。其中Lilliputian在今年稍早推出了 Nectar品牌的燃料电池产品，锁定智能手机充电应用，售价299．99美元、燃料补充罐售价9.99美元，价格不菲。
市场研究机构 Fuel Cell Today 在9月底发布的一份燃料电池产业报告，将2012全年度可携式燃料电池出货量，由原先估计的3万个向下修正至1万8,900个，主要原因就是产品延迟上市，以及明显低于预期的市场接受度。
Rohm 燃料电池业务部门总监神泽公(Akira Kamisawa)坦承，该公司严重低估了将燃料电池产品投放至消费性市场供应链所需付出的精力，那与过去Rohm锁定的B2B供应链通路完全不同；不过 他也表示，这是将该公司燃料电池推向最大目标市场的第一步──也就是紧急备援电力，以及可为关键基础设施提供不断电电源的离网电力系统。
Rohm以燃料电池打造智能手机充电应用的移动电源
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：固态燃料电池具备环保优势
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在被问到Rohm为何涉足燃料电池技术领域时，神泽表示，在2009年首度举办的一个年度先进电子技术研讨会(Advanced Electronics Symposium)上，该公司对一家新创厂商Aquafairy所介绍的技术产生兴趣──也就是让燃料电池能在无AC插座的情境下提供“便利”的电源。
于是Rohm与Aquafairy还有京都大学合作，开发出固态的氢燃料电池，可为智能手机与其它便携式装置充电；他们声称新开发的燃料电池与干电池、锂离子电池或是直接甲醇燃料电池(direct methanol fuel cell)相较，尺寸更小、重量更轻、效率也更高。
而且根据Rohm表示，因为该固态燃料电池只要加水就能产生氢气、然后透过水合成(hydro-synthesis)发电，因此该种技术具备环保优势，不会产生二氧化碳或是挥发性有机化合物等有害物质，电池本身也能做为一般废弃物丢弃。
Rohm的燃料电池移动电源可激活紧急LED照明
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：号称可维持20年电力不损失
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更具体的说，Aquafairy与Rohm藉由专有技术成功将氢化钙(calcium hydride)由粉末状固化成片状；该研究团队声称，他们现在能从体积不到3cc、如一片口香糖般的固态燃料电池中，产生约4.5公升(liters)的氢，提供5Whr的电力输出。
如一片口香糖大小的固态燃料电池芯
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不同于干电池或锂离子的电力会随着时间推移而减低，Rohm新一代氢燃料电池采用铝箔外壳避免劣化，号称可维持20年电力不损失。而Rohm在控制电路方面的知识产权也对燃料电池技术有所贡献，神泽表示，该公司能在不需要制动器(actuator)、帮浦或马达的前提下，控制氢燃料的量与调节化学反应。
目 前Rohm的燃料电池部门是由公司研发总部所管辖，神泽形容是一项“spin-in”业务：”我们执行市场行销与销售，也参与研发活动。”虽然目前该部门规模不大，但他认为很快就能对公司营收有所贡献，而且该部门的研发方向符合Rohm创办人佐藤研一郎(Kenichiro Sato)的长期愿景──他期望员工放远眼光，寻找能在接下来10到30年成为公司支柱的技术。
Rohm对碳化硅技术的早期投资就是一个最佳案例；目前该公司是碳化硅功率组件与模块的领导供货商，该类组件的应用范围包括太阳能、风力发电与电动/混合动力车辆DC/AC转换器所使用的高效率逆变器，以及工业设备、空调使用的功率逆变器。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：大输出功率的燃料电池
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大输出功率的燃料电池
除了移动电源应用的小型化燃料电池(2.5W)，Rohm也能提供高功率输出(200W)的混合式电源设备，采用固态氢能源储存罐，可做为紧急备援电力或是户外休闲应用；此外还有一款长使用时间的产品(3W)，能安装在偏远区域做为地震/火山监测仪的电源。
由固态氢燃料电池罐组成的高功率输出设备
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Rohm于去年发表第一款燃料电池之后，让神泽与他的团队惊讶的是，第一个对该产品的询问居然来自非洲的辛巴威，后来还有更多来自遥远国家的询问电话，包括奈及利亚以及摩洛哥。而最大的拉力则来自日本的各个城市，它们都在寻找能在地震与海啸灾难发生时的备援电力解决方案。
市场研究Pike Research预期，固定式的燃料电池市场主要成长动力，来自日本对住宅用暖气以及电力系统的庞大需求，特别是在日本福岛第一核电厂停摆之后。
燃料电池市场分成三个不同类别，一是可携式，一是固定式，另一个则是交通运输应用；每个类别市场对技术的需求都不同，成长商机与技术周期也不同。在这三者之中，快速成长的智能手机市场──而且几乎每天都需要充电──对燃料电池开发商来说是可携式方案很不错的目标。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：成长最快速的燃料电池领域是哪？
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• 突破市场困局，电源模块释放创新活力
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至 于交通运输用的燃料电池则在群众之间引起一些讨论，特别是自7月底美国车厂通用(GM)以及日本车厂本田(Honda)宣布成立燃料电池联盟之后；另一家 日本车厂丰田(Toyota)在这方面也有新闻，该公司将于本月稍晚举行的东京车展(Tokyo Motor Show)，发表一款预定2015年上市的氢燃料电池新车。
但实际上，成长最快速的燃料电池领域既非可稀释也非交通用，是固定式方案；根据Fuel Cell Today的报告，固定式燃料电池已经进驻了各种规模的应用，包括住宅用的小型连网暖气与供电设施、离网备援电力系统，以及关键基础设施用的不断电设备， 还有大楼用的主电力设施，甚至可做为连网电力站使用的mW 等级电力设备。
固定式燃料电池市场成长快速
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而Rohm快速决定改变燃料电池产品策略、转向紧急备援电力的举措看似明智，但考量到该公司为了教育大众用燃料电池帮智能手机充电的环保优势，还得花费的资源，恐怕并不是那么容易？
编译:Judith Cheng
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Will Rohm's Fuel Cell Gambit Pay Off?，by Junko Yoshida
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• 突破市场困局，电源模块释放创新活力
• 燃料电池车国际标准将采用日本方案
• 燃料电池车卷土重来，全仗政府法规hB2esmc
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Will Rohm's Fuel Cell Gambit Pay Off?
Junko Yoshida
KYOTO, Japan – Fuel cells -- those magic bullets filled with hydrogen that have been promoted for decade as a source of infinite energy -- is a technology too often over-promised and almost totally under-delivered.
The long, tortuous history of fuel cells -- always billed as ready for prime time next year -- has put the pursuers of the elusive dream under constant scrutiny, often forcing them to review the market landscape, alter their business strategy, and punt, while they continue their R&D projects. The result is a fuel-cell market chronically plagued with product delays and precious little demand.
Among a handful of promising companies whose hearts were set on the portable fuel-cell market, Japan's Rohm has recently become the first to blink. Although not ditching its nascent fuel-cell business, Rohm decided to change focus.
Rohm, a Kyoto-based manufacturer of semiconductor and passives, also a leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, isn't a big name in the fuel-cell market -- just yet. But the company has been working with Aquafairy Corp., a Kyoto-based startup, and Kyoto University to develop solid fuel-type hydrogen fuel cells.
In an interview with EE Times, Rohm discussed the company's shift from its original goal of promoting fuel cells to charge smartphones to developing them for emergency backup power. The company made the decision less than a year after it demonstrated at various trade shows the company's first fuel-cell technology and prototypes.
While other fuel-cell suppliers including Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies (Singapore), myFC (Sweden), and Mass.-based Lilliputian Systems are sticking to their guns in pursuing the portable fuel-cell segment, they face stiff competition from conventional batteries that are much cheaper and broadly available.
After all, Lilliputian, earlier this year, announced its "Nectar" brand fuel cells (designed for recharging smartphones) at $299.99 with refill cartridges selling for $9.99. If you do the math, the headwind is clear.
In its Fuel Cell Industry Review 2013 published late September, the market research firm Fuel Cell Today acknowledged that they had to revise their final full-year 2012 figure for portable fuel-cell shipments down by around 30,000 units to 18,900 units due to product delays and a significantly lower-than-expected adoption rate.
Talking to EE Times, Akira Kamisawa, director of Rohm's fuel-cell business unit, acknowledged that the company had grossly underestimated the effort it would take to put products into the supply chain for the consumer market, compared to the business-to-business distribution channels Rohm is accustomed to.
Rohm originally envisioned its fuel cells as a smartphone charger.
Rohm, however, sees the alteration of its fuel-cell strategy neither as a technology defeat nor a vision failure. Rather, Kamisawa explained, this is the necessary first step to push Rohm fuel cells into where they're most needed today: emergency backup power, and off-grid power systems providing uninterruptible power supplies to critical infrastructure.
Kyoto-heritage
The story of Rohm tackling the nascent fuel-cell market illustrates the complexity of the market today. But the story also reveals more about Rohm's heritage, its legendary founder and the leading role the company has played in the interplay of academia and high-tech companies (including Kyocera, Omron, and Murata among others) in Japan's Kyoto region.
Unlike other Japanese chip companies, such as Renesas, Toshiba, and Fujitsu, many of which are a part of vertically integrated behemoths, Rohm remains small, focused on its specialties, and nimble in decision making.
Asked why Rohm got involved in fuel cells, Kamisawa talked of the Advanced Electronics Symposium founded in 2009 as an annual interdisciplinary event among Kyoto-based high-tech companies, start-ups, and academia. Rohm got interested when Aquafairy, a startup founded in Kyoto's Venture Plaza, presented its project at the forum.
A fuel cell's ability to provide "convenient" power where no sockets for AC power are available struck Rohm as an attractive value proposition.
Rohm, together with Aquafairy and Kyoto Univ., developed solid fuel-type hydrogen fuel cells to recharge smartphones and other portable devices. They claim their cells are "smaller, lighter, and more efficient compared to dry cells, lithium-ion cells and direct methanol fuel cells." They said their fuel cells have the advantage of being ecologically friendly, because this series of hydrogen fuel cells uses a solid that creates hydrogen by adding water, thus generating power through hydro-synthesis. The result is power "with no harmful by-products such as carbon dioxide or volatile organic compounds," according to Rohm. These fuel cells can be disposed of as general waste.
Rohm's mobile fuel cells can light up LED lights in emergency.
More specifically, both Aquafairy and Rohm, by leveraging proprietary technologies, succeeded in solidifying calcium hydride in a sheet configuration, a distinct departure from using calcium hydride in a powder form. The team claims they can now generate about 4.5 liters of hydrogen from a sheet less than 3cc in volume – the thickness of a stick of chewing gum -- to provide a power output of 5Whr.
Rohm's hydrogen generating sheet. Less than 3cc fuel sheet can charge a regular (5Whr) Smartphone.
Unlike dry and lithium-ion cells whose producible electricity declines over time, Rohm's new series of hydrogen fuel cells, which uses laminated aluminum to prevent degradation, can be stored for as long as 20 years without losing energy, the company claimed.
Rohm's particular contribution to fuel-cell technology includes the company's IP used in control circuits. Rohm was able to control the amount of hydrogen and regulate chemical reactions without using actuator, pump, or motor, said Kamisawa.
Rohm's fuel-cell business today operates under the company's R&D headquarters. Calling this business "a spin-in," Kamisawa said, "We do both marketing and sales while engaged in R&D activities." Although the fuel-cell unit is unlikely to become big enough, any time soon, to contribute to the company's bottom line, he explained that the project fits into the long-term vision of Rohm's founder, Kenichiro Sato. Sato has taught Rohm employees that they always need to look for what will become the company's "next pillar" in 10, 20, even 30 years.
A case in point is Rohm's early investment in silicon carbide. The company is now the industry's leader in SiC power devices and modules. Their applications range from high-efficiency inverters in DC/AC converters for solar and wind power supplies and electric/hybrid vehicles to power inverters for industrial equipment and air conditioners. Last September, the company rolled out two new 1200 SiC MOSFETs. Rohm described them as critical to "higher efficiency, power density, and lower system bill of materials for next-generation power conversion systems."
Fuel-cell push
Beyond its compact fuel-cell model (2.5W) designed for recharging all types of mobile devices, Rohm today offers a hybrid high-output model (200W) with solid hydrogen-source canister for emergency power backup or outdoor leisure uses, and a long-life model (3W) designed for installation in remote areas as a power supply for earthquake/volcano seismometers.
After Rohm announced its first fuel-cell products last year, the first inquiry -- to the surprise of Kamisawa and his team -- came from Zimbabwe. More calls came from other far-flung places, including Nigeria and Morocco, he noted.
Rohm's hybrid high-output model with solid hydrogen-source canister
But the biggest pull was from cities throughout Japan looking for emergency power back-up in case of earthquakes and tsunami.
As Pike Research pointed out, the stationary sector of fuel cells has been primarily driven by the surge of interest in residential heat and power systems in Japan following the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The fuel-cell market consists of three distinctly different segments that include portable, stationary, and transport. For each segment, the industry has seen different technology requirements, growth opportunities and varying hype cycles.
Of the three, the rapid growth of smartphones -- which tend run out of power almost daily -- has made "portable" a popular target for fuel-cell developers.
Fuel cells for transport are also back in the public debate, since a fuel-cell alliance between GM and Honda was announced last July. Toyota got a lot of publicity last week, just by announcing that it will be showing at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month a new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle scheduled for launch in 2015.
But in reality, the fastest growing fuel-cell segment is neither portable nor transport. "The stationary sector is by far the stand-out performer for fuel cell technology," according to the fuel-cell industry review 2013 published by Fuel Cell Today in late September.
The fastest growing fuel-cell segment today is the stationary sector.
The report said the stationary sector has found "application across all scales: from small-scale grid-connected micro combined heat and power units for residential use, to off-grid backup power systems providing uninterruptible power supplies to critical infrastructure, to prime power for buildings and even to megawatt-scale installations designed as grid-connected power stations."
Rohm's quick decision to shift its fuel cell strategy to emergency power back-up is looking smarter, especially considering the resources the company would have had to spend to educate the masses on the ecological advantages of fuel cells over batteries in recharging smartphones.
责编：Quentin
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