Fuel Cell Powered Hearing Aids

CLIMATE, ENERGY AND MOBILITY

DTI realized an invention in 2009 and started developing micro fuel cells for portable devices. Focus has been on replacing batteries in hearing aids. The developed technology is a passive Direct Methanol Fuel Cell miniaturized to comply with the hearing aid form factor. The solution is a fuel cell powered hearing aid that runs for a day and can be refueled in less than 30 seconds. The cells with the longest lifetime have been in operation for more than five years with an average degradation of two µV/hour.

The work has been conducted in close collaboration with key players in Danish industry and academia. At the summit in November a demonstration of the prototype system will be presented.