Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Yukinori Akamoto

Kenichi Takahashi

Hiroyuki Hasebe

Nobuyasu Negishi

Koichi Kawamura

Hideyuki Oozu

Takashi Shimoyamada

Hidenori Suzuki

Hirofumi Kan

Hideaki Yasui

Yuichi Yoshida

Yuuichi Sato

Kiyoshi Senoue

Yoshie Ozeki

Genta Oomichi

Daisuke Watanabe

Asako Sato

Makoto Miyahara

Michiyuki Kitamoto

A fuel cell () includes an electromotive unit () having a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) (), a fuel storage unit () storing a liquid fuel, and a fuel supply mechanism () supplying the fuel from the fuel storage unit () to a fuel electrode () of the membrane electrode assembly (). The membrane electrode assembly () has a gas vent hole () provided in a manner to penetrate through at least an electrolyte membrane () to let a gas component generated on a side of the fuel electrode () escape to a side of an air electrode ().

Fuel cell

The present invention relates to a fuel cell including: a membrane electrode assembly () having a fuel electrode (), an air electrode (), and an electrolyte membrane () sandwiched therebetween; and a fuel storage unit () storing a liquid fuel. The fuel cell is capable of continuously generating electricity for long hours only by being replenished with a fuel, and therefore, attempts have been made to miniaturize the fuel cell to use it as a power source of portable electronic devices. When the membrane electrode assembly and the fuel storage unit in the fuel cell are connected via a flow path, a fuel supply state becomes uneven depending on the shape and the like of the flow path even though a supply amount of the fuel can be adjusted, which causes a problem such as a decrease in an output of the fuel cell. The present invention solves the aforethe problem by providing, in the fuel cell, a fuel distributing mechanism () which supplies the fuel to a plurality of places of the fuel electrode, and connecting the fuel distributing mechanism and the fuel storage unit via the flow path ().

In electronic equipment using a fuel cell as a power source, an antenna and a fuel cell, which are provided in a lower case of a main body receiving electronic parts, are arranged at a given distance from each other. An acceptable communication state can be established in the electronic equipment.

Electronic equipment

A PDA, which functions as an electronic unit, includes power supply which includes a fuel cell unit and an auxiliary power supply which is charged by an output of the fuel cell unit. A non-use state of the PDA is detected by non-use detection unit. Upon detection of the non-use state by the non-use detection unit, the output from the fuel cell unit is stopped and an output of the auxiliary power supply is shut off.

Electronic apparatus and fuel cell system

Growing community of inventors

Chiba-ken, Japan

Yukinori Akamoto