AllScoop Technology

Newest discoveries in fuel cell technology.

We all hear a lot about fuel cells on the news, but what exactly is a fuel cell? Simply, a fuel cell is a device that takes stored chemical energy and converts it into electrical energy. A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device. It is a kind of a device that produces electricity from the fuel that acts as the anode and is the positive part in a cell and it is an oxidant that acts as a cathode, which is the negative part in a cell. Now, the oxidizer and fuel react in the presence of an electrolyte, which acts as the medium. Now, a reactant flows into the cell reagents and products flow out, and electrolyte remain within the cell.

The principle on which the fuel cell works is the principle of catalysis. According to this principle, the reagent fuel is separated into two components electrons and protons, electrons are forced to go through a path that is pre-specified and, hence, the electrons are converted into electricity. Today, the catalyst that is used in this reaction of fuel and oxidizer used is generally composed of a metal of the platinum group or alloy. There is now another catalytic process in which electrons are taken and these electrons combine with the protons and oxidants which ultimately develop waste products. These wastes are simple compounds such as water and carbon dioxide.

There is a classic hydrogen-oxygen design of fuel cells which is also known as proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) design. A proton-conducting polymer membrane (electrolyte), separates the anode and cathode sides.

At the anode, there is a diffusion of hydrogen to diffuse the anode and catalyst later; it dissociates itself into protons and electrons. The protons are conducted through the membrane to the cathode; on the other hand, the electrons are forced to move in an external circuit (energy supply) because there is an electrically insulating membrane. At the cathode catalyst there are oxygen molecules that react with electrons. These electrons are those who have traveled through the external circuit and protons to form water - for example, waste products that are generated, are either liquid or steam.

Other than the type of pure hydrogen, hydrocarbons for fuel cells can also be used. These are fuels such as diesel or methanol and chemical hydrides can also be used as fuel in fuel cells. The waste produced in these types of fuel is carbon dioxide and water.

There are many combinations of fuel cells, because there are many possible combinations of fuels and oxidants. To name a few we have “a metal hydride fuel cell”. The electrolyte used in this fuel cell is an alkaline aqueous solution such as potassium hydroxide. Then there is a merger of carbonate fuel cell. The electrolyte used in this cell is alkaline, molten carbonate, such as sodium bicarbonate.

There is a difference in behavior of fuel cells. It is due to the electrochemical batteries in use for some reasons. The first reason is that fuel cells consume reagents and it is necessary to rebuild these reagents from time to time. The second reason is that the electrodes of fuel cells are a catalyst and it is therefore relatively more stable than the electrochemical batteries.

Business Process Management and the Web

Taking BPM to the Web

Now that the acceptance of the need for business process management (BPM) software is becoming mainstream, the demand for the technology has reached the critical mass required to force software vendors to heed their customer’s demands for “zero latency” access to information.

BPM is rapidly headed to the web and the timing couldn’t be better. There aren’t many CEO or CFOs left who are willing to go to jail for the sins of omission and, if it did nothing else, an investment in BPM would be worth it just to stay ahead of the requirements of Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley.

In reality there are any number of reasons why BPM makes sense in a competitive environment where sales are being squeezed by imports, labor costs are rising, and every business process is finally starting to get a real price tag attached to it.

Web-enabled BPM software offers the first real promise of seamless integration with existing ERP systems and the great hordes of legacy data that most organizations have hiding in their electronic closets.

One of the most pressing issues facing developers of BPM software is finding a standard and sticking with it. In a flurry of confusion, reminiscent of the Betamax vs. VHS conflicts of years ago, various vendors are circling their wagons around different standards.

J2EE (Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition) is a strong contender because of its widespread availability and reputation for compatibility with XML, EJB, JSP, XML and the rest of the usual acronym suspects including the lowly JavaScript.

XML is enjoying wide acceptance as a genuinely platform independent standard for data representation.

Web Services and Service Oriented Architectures, based upon SOAP and WDSL are fully supported by major players including BEA, IBM, Sun and Oracle.

And, of course, Microsoft is a player with their .Net initiative which also embraces XML, SOAP and WSDL.

All of this not withstanding, many industry watchers have their eyes on an emerging standard known as Business Process Execution Language (BPEL4WS), an XML-based language which is specifically designed to handle task-sharing in a distributed environment by utilizing a variety of Web services. Although not available in any shipping products, it is garnering strong support within the industry.

Another contender in the race to be the preferred platform is the Business Process Modeling Language (BPML). This is a meta-language, along the same lines of XML, which is specially designed to model business processes.

Two “Soon to be thought about more deeply” standards wanna-bees are the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), which offers a graphical method of defining business processes using a Business Process Diagram (BPD), and the Business Process Query Language (BPQL) which utilizes a business process server and a process repository to execute and deploy queries.

If all of these emerging and soon-to-be-emerging standards are too much for you to keep track of, you’ll be happy to know that an organization exists which is championing the cause on your behalf.

According to their web site, the Business Process Management Initiative “embraces existing standards where appropriate, working with complementary standards bodies such as the OMG, WfMC and OASIS. In areas where standards are lacking, BPMI focuses on standards development to support the entire life-cycle of business process management - from process design, through deployment, execution, maintenance, and optimization”.

While it may be fun to keep track of all the three and four letter acronyms, making the wrong standards decision won’t bring as many chuckles from the boardroom. IT executives and managers need to make strategic decisions now while depending upon standards which are subject to change in the future. The cost of making the wrong decision can be high, but the cost of making no decision at all is even higher.

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time is come and this is the time for business process management software to integrate with the web.

Microsoft announced their new product today called “Surface”. I’d say it is a little ahead of its time yet, but could be useful for certain applications. A product like this has to be 100% bug free and work flawless to be placed in public places for use by average people. It can’t scare off folks that aren’t used to technology, or it will end up hurting your business rather than helping it. A restaurant application looked really neat for order drinks, desserts, and especially for paying for your meals. If it works well it could attract people in simply for the novelty of it. Microsoft surface will have a future, but it won’t be overnight.