Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has commercialized a
small, high-precision methanol concentration sensor. This sensor can be
applied to measure methanol levels in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
(DMFC), which shows promise as small fuel cells for mobile equipments
such as laptops.
Among various fuel cell technologies, DMFC is one
technology whose contribution to downsizing of fuel cells is expected.
Development and deployment of its mobile equipment applications
including laptop PCs are actively carried out by fuel cell
manufacturers and mobile equipment manufacturers respectively. It is
necessary to control the methanol level accurately to generate
electricity efficiently and stably in DMFC. Therefore a small and
high-precision methanol concentration sensor is needed.
The sound velocity at which ultrasonic waves propagate
through methanol solutions depends on the methanol level. We developed
a methanol concentration sensor that measures the methanol level based
on the time an ultrasonic wave takes to propagate through the methanol
solution.
Our product is small, high-precision, and uses little
electricity. These features were made possible by the development of
our proprietary impulse ultrasonic transducer (*1), which uses our
multi-layer piezoelectric technology and ultrasonic control technology,
and also by integrating the sensor with a special-purpose drive control
IC. These features enable the product to be used as methanol
concentration sensors to DMFC systems of mobile equipments such as
laptops.
These features enable the product to be used as
methanol concentration sensors to DMFC systems of mobile equipments
such as laptops.
We expect that we can apply this sensor to measure
other liquid levels as well.
Samples will be available from October 2005. We will display this
product at our booth in "CEATEC JAPAN 2005", which will be held at
Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture from October 4th.
