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[1390806347] Battery

Anonymous Mon 27 Jan 2014 12:05:00 No.25767 View View Reply Original Report

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Refillable sugar-fed battery

A battery that runs on sugar has been created by a Virginia Tech research team, in a development that could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable and biodegradable.

While other groups have also developed sugar batteries, the latest battery has greater energy density so it can run longer before needing to be refuelled, the scientists said.

The new batteries could be available in three years' time. The sugar battery combines fuel - in this case maltodextrin - with air to generate electricity and water. The battery's fuel sugar solution is not explosive or flammable, and its ingredients are biodegradable. It is also refillable and sugar can be added to it, just like someone would fill a printer cartridge with ink, said the institute in a statement.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Wed 05 Feb 2014 23:05:00 No.25792 Report

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Battery technology key to gadget's selling power

Professor Shyamnath Gollakota at the University of Washington is among many seeking to solve the big battery problem.

SAN FRANCISCO - The next breakthrough smartphone, or maybe the one after that, might not have a traditional battery as its sole source of power. Instead, it could pull energy from air or power itself through television, cellular or Wi-Fi signals.

   Engineers at Apple even tried for many years to build a smarter battery by adding solar-charging to iPhones and iPods, a former Apple executive said. And they have continued to experiment with solar-charging, two people who work at the company said.

   Batteries, long the poor cousin to computer chips in research-obsessed Silicon Valley, are now the rage.

   As tech companies push their businesses into making wearable devices such as fitness bands, eye-glasses and smart watches, the limitations of battery technology have become the biggest obstacle to sales and greater profits.

   Consumers are unlikely to embrace a wristwatch computer, like the one being worked on by Apple, or Google's smart glasses if they work for only a few hours between charges.

   So the race is on - both to find alternatives to the traditional battery and to discover ways to make battery power last longer.

   Consumers are going to say, "give me a better battery because it doesn't last long enough", said Mr Mujeeb Ijaz, chief technology officer at A123 Systems, a company that makes batteries for electric cars and invests in start-ups that are developing new battery technologies. "That need wasn't there five years ago."

   Although computer chips have doubled in speed every few years, and digital displays have become significantly brighter and sharper, battery technology is largely stuck in the 20th century.

   Device makers have relied on incremental improvements to battery power, usually supplied by a decades-old lithium-ion concoction, in combination with more energy-efficient chips and screens.

   The problem, in part, is that it is hard to ensure the safety of many new power technologies. A faulty battery could potentially turn into a miniature bomb. So the products require exhaustive testing by regulators before hitting store shelves.

   Apple has declined to comment on future products and technologies, but there are clues that the company is looking into ways to improve battery technology.

   Google also has been looking at new battery technologies, trying to figure out ways to extend the life of smartphones. "People do not want to have to go run and find a charger at 3pm every day," said Mr Mark Randall, senior vice-president for supply chain and operations at Motorola, which Google announced last week it would sell to Lenovo.

   Samsung too has been designing new types of batteries with wearable computers in mind. The company has introduced compact curved batteries that can be installed inside wristbands.

   Universities and start-ups are also making their own efforts - attracting attention and venture capital.

NEW YORK TIMES

Anonymous

3

Anonymous Wed 12 Feb 2014 21:23:00 No.25822 Report

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Stanford researchers make heart implant powered by radio waves, put batteries out of a job : http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2012/09/04/stanford-researchers-make-heart-implant-powered-by-radio-waves-put-batteries-out-of-a-job

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