An ultrasound enhanced direct methanol fuel cell

A novel direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) incorporating an ultrasonic transducer is introduced based on a recent provisional patent application [J. Ge, J. Han, H. Liu, Ultrasounically enhanced fuel cell system, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/815,268, June 21, 2006]. The ultrasound transducer is embedded in the methanol supply line and is used to enhance the performance of a DMFC. The technique of introducing ultrasound through methanol supply line significantly reduced the potential losses in ultrasound transmission to the reaction sites of the fuel cell. Series of experiments have been conducted to study the effect of the ultrasound on the performance of the DMFC. The experimental results showed that the high-frequency vibrations of the ultrasound through the methanol supply line enhance the cell performance significantly and consistently. The experimental results unequivocally demonstrated the feasibility of using ultrasound to enhance DMFC performance and the effectiveness of introducing ultrasound into a DMFC via methanol supply line to minimize the wave transmission losses.