I'm optimistic that the technology is advancing so rapidly that we could have a working prototype in three years. No decision has been made, he said. The JPL concept, under development since the early 1990s by a team consisting of JPL, California Institute of Technology, USC, and Giner, Inc., Waltham, MA, could change all that. Funding was provided by the Defense Research Projects Agency and by private sources. Current goals are to design and build units that can run continu- ously for 1,000 hours.
Byproducts are water and carbon dioxide.
At 60 deg. C. without pressurized air but just blowing air, the cell produces about half that energy. Work on a 150-watt version is scheduled to begin this month, according to the JPL release. In a second project, JPL has designed a 5 kW version for DTI Energy as a potential power source for a light utility vehicle, such as a three-wheeled police parking enforcement vehicle. According to Halpert, DTI Energy expects to demonstrate the vehicle in about two years.