Patent ID: 7629707

Claim:
A method of providing electrical power to a power-consuming device in a circuit, said method comprising: providing a primary power supply that comprises a first fuel cell and a spare fuel cell, wherein the primary power supply is configured as a primary source of the electrical power to the power-consuming device; detecting that neither the first fuel cell nor the spare fuel cell is available; incorporating an output of a backup fuel cell into said circuit; providing a backup fuel source to release the hydrogen from a solid storage medium: releasing said hydrogen from a solid storage medium by a process comprising: (a) providing an aqueous solution that serves as a diffusion catalyst; (b) introducing the aqueous solution to the solid storage medium within a containment vessel; and (c) causing a chemical reaction to occur that extracts the hydrogen from the solid storage medium in vapor form; and noncombustibly consuming said released hydrogen in said backup fuel cell to provide the electrical power to said power-consuming device.