Batteries
Batteries
by sammix on March 19, 2009 - 22:03.As we all think about innovations in wireless and we get all excited about new services, apps, capabilities, what is being done to improve battery life to allow us all to experience all these new and great services and products for longer and longer periods without having to plug into somehting (its then not "mobile") This in reality may become a bottleneck to further innovations if we dont have devices with sufficient battery life and that don't weight too much. Thoughts and insight would be helpful.....
As you say, right now developments in battery technology aren't keeping pace with advances in the capabilities of the latest handsets, which typically have high-resolution, power-hungry displays, high-speed processors, in-built Wi-Fi etc. etc.
As well as trying to boost the performance of the lithium-ion batteries widely-used in mobile phones, the industry is exploring alternative sources of power. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, several solar-powered handsets from the likes of LG, Samsung and ZTE were on display. Also check out, www.intivation.nl, which develops solar-powered mobile phones, chargers and battery packs and won the GSMA’s Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology award in Barcelona.
Battery life, battery technology, and alternative power technology is a great area for new innovation and I would like to encourage anyone in this sector or research area to engage in this discussion.
My intuition leads me to beleive this are will develop significantly over the next few years because of the investment and stimulus money being spent by governments on the green technology sector. Early reports and press releases I have read over the last year range from more efficient solar tech to improved Lithium-ion battery packs to handset-scale fuelcells.
I have to say, in my opinion, the most promising research I've seen for increasing the capabilities of existing technology relates to how Lithium batteries are constructed (I'll have to find the article). From memory, I had the impression they would be able to enable faster recharge times (claims of reductions from hours to minutes) and extended battery life expectancy. For consumers, this may work out to be a good interim solution because the wireless devices functionality is retained if the recharge time is reduced to the point of insignificance. I'll try to dig up the specific article and post it here if anyone is interested in more information.
Has anyone seen any of the work occuring in this sector or know anyone doing this research? It would be great to post some links to specific resources for those interested in specific technology developments.
The way Industry is advancing, it will be very difficult to keep pace on this front. I remember the good old days when a fully charged handset can be used for 3 days without recharging. But with the bigger displays, Data usage, and the Music playing capability it will be always more power hungry.
I think a better approach to this problem can be a coordinated effort from all handset manufacturers to build a common charging interface. All the different manufacturers have different chargers, even the same vendors have different chargers. Why not have a common charger for all handset models? That way I can effectively charge my handset virtually anywhere.
Back in Feb of this year, an announcement was made (maybe at Mobile World Congress) that a standard charger called the Universal Charging Connector, will be commercialized by Jan 1, 2012
The GSMA and 17 leading mobile operators and manufacturers today announced that they are committed to implementing a cross-industry standard for a universal charger for new mobile phones. The aim of the initiative, led by the GSMA, is to ensure that the mobile industry adopts a common format for mobile phone charger connections and energy-efficient chargers resulting in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in standby energy consumption, the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers1 and the enhancement of the customer experience by simplifying the charging of mobile phones.
The group has set an ambitious target that by 2012 a universal charging solution (UCS) will be widely available in the market worldwide and will use Micro-USB as the common universal charging interface
Interesting article about new battery technology maybe coming out of MIT....
Battery Fully Charged within the Time of Finishing a Can of Coke
Author: Zhongqi Jin, Wireless Research Associate
Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:55:32 EDT
Recently Reuters reported Mar 11that a group of scientists from MIT found a way to make lithium batteries that are smaller, lighter, longer lasting and capable of recharging in seconds. The most exciting part of the news was the new batteries are only an enhancement of the present commonly used batteries so that it could be easily adapted for commercial use in a few years.
Gerbrand Ceder and colleagues at MIT discovered that lithium ions travel through tunnels accessed from the surface of the material. However, it takes time for the ions to move to the entrance of the tunnel which slow down the recharge and discharge of the lithium batteries. The team experimented with the battery recipe, creating less restrictive tunnels in the material that allow the ions to pass through in and out easily. Using their new processing technique, the team made a battery that could be fully charged in 10 to 20 seconds.
This battery innovation could have a big impact on the way people use mobile phones, laptops, PDA and other electrical devices. Imagine this, one man walk on the street, suddenly his mobile phone beeps and warn him low battery. Then he goes to a typical vending machine (e.g. selling drinks or snacks), puts in a coin, plugs in his mobile phone to charge and then buys a drink while waiting. The short charge time would mean the charging device can be attached in lots of place, like vending machines, phone boxes, ATM, even in toilets!
Sounds like quite a breakthrough. Here's some more battery-related news, this time from Japan. Mobile Business Briefing reports that KDDI is to launch a solar-powered mobile device manufactured by Sharp in June. The operator said that 10 minutes of solar charge would provide enough energy for the phone to make a 1 minute voice call or remain on standby for two hours. It added that solar energy will be able to charge up to 80 percent of the phone's battery.
If you will forgive the pun, this is clearly a hot area right now. Perhaps we will see more ideas around this theme emerge in the "Most Innovative Embedded Mobile or Device-centric Technology" category of the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix. Check out the Awards link at the top of this page.
I just stumbled across some research from Strategy Analytics, which reckons the battery problem is getting worse, claiming the average time between charges for cellphone users is set to fall by 5% per year as people use more and more power-hungry apps.
Their report predicts that web browsing, navigation and social networking will grow from a combined 9% of the "battery budget" in 2008 to 30% by 2014. Meanwhile, battery capacity in cell phones has increased by only 4 percent per year in the past three years, according to the research firm, which predicts that silver zinc and hydrogen fuel cell solutions are most likely to replace lithium ion batteries in future.
Although Strategy Analytics acknowledges that fast-charging solutions, such as the one outlined above, could ease the pain, battery performance still looks set to become an even bigger issue over the next few years if we all demand more and more from our smartphones. This is an area crying out for more innovation....
A press release on the Strategy Analytics report can be found here:
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=PressReleaseViewer&a0=...
World Tech Update has video from CES (jump to 4:20 in the timeline) showing PowerMat here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKwUJKisv4
DoCoMo R&D is way ahead with that concept - using RFID to suck juice at power spots on the run - for some years now. Otherwise, Yes.. KDDI was showing-off the "Voyage" solar panel handset at CEATEC last October:
http://wirelesswatch.jp/2008/10/06/ceatec-2008-a-peek-at-the-future/
While of course there has been several different efforts with methanol fuel cells as well.. Hitachi for example back in 2005:
http://wirelesswatch.jp/2005/10/06/wireless-watch-japan-intelligence-fro...
Hope some of that is useful for future consideration.. 8-)
Lars,
Great examples of needed innovation, but, unfortunately, I don't see much press around these very interesting items. Is it because the subject isn't "sexy", the business model can't be justified, or the development time taking longer than expected? I understand companies may be operating behind the scenes, but, given "green" is en vogue, I would expect corporations to publicize their efforts a bit more.
HI Andy:
Sorry for the lag -- Indeed.. not much buzz in this area, as you mentioned, perhaps due to a mix of those reasons. As luck would have it.. I was at DoCoMo presser here today and the Q&A session brought up the apparent lack of progress to commercialize fuel cells. The reasoning mentioned - among other things - was that as handsets continue to get slimmer, while at the same time tend to demand even more juice, the R&D folks are facing the challenge to balance these increased and conflicted demands. Suffice to say.. methanol is not quite ready for prime-time.
I have been testing a solar-powered handset, the Commtiva Sola, over the past week and am encouraged by my experience so far. Here in London, where we have had an unusually long run of sunshine, it has been possible to keep the handset running on solar power alone.
Admittedly, I have not been using the phone much. I have tried to mimic the usage of ordinary people in developing countries - keeping the handset on standby while I am awake, but making or receving just one or two quick calls or text messages each day.
The Commtiva Sola's distinguishing feature is two solar panels (each nine square centimeters) set into the back of the phone. Otherwise, it is ordinary, albeit quite chunky, candy-bar phone with a 1.8 inch TFT 64,000 colour display with a resolution of 128 by 160 pixels. The handset comes with a mini-USB charger, but the average user in a developing country may not need it.
One of the team at Commtiva tells me that, in Africa, charging the handset for an hour will typically generate four minutes of talktime. In perfect conditions, he says an hour in the sun will generate 12 minutes of talktime or 11 hours of standby time. Commtiva expects to begin shipping the handset to customers early next month.
However, my testing did throw up one issue. As you move around during the day, you need to keep finding safe and secure places in the sun to place your handset, where you will still be able to hear it ring. Of course, in the many places in Africa without any reliable electricity, that would probably be considered a small price to pay for free power.
Hi Dave:
Thought I would point-out that both SoftBank and KDDI announced last week they will roll the Sharp Solar handset here with their new Summer-Series lineup. It's also waterproof and sports an 8 megapixel camera.. 8-)
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/special/09summer/product/?mid=936sh
One of the great things about the mobile industry is range of different solutions developed for different users. The Commtiva Sola phone is a simple candy bar primarily developed for emerging markets, especially where the electricity supply is unreliable. There are lots of compelling solutions for more mature markets that are either in planning, or even in production such as the Sharp 8MP solution. Provided manufacturers and operators target products to solve real problems which end users have, whether its being able to carry your camera with you at all times, or simply have access to electricity, then the industry will move forward.
@sammix
Not sure how long the universal charger will take. It was also announced in 2007 - http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39289524,00.htm.
And, since this is apparently the norm in China (speaking to Cambridge Consultants) it surprised me that it wasn't in force before they had to reannounce at 3GSM.
Love the idea that phones will shed chargers all together, or, more accurately, the need to produce environmentally friendly chargers, car chargers and the like, will be disposed of. Especially as we have proven ourselves to be bobbins at recycling electronics - http://www.nminet.org/profiles/blogs/reclaimed-gold-wiring-medal
Re: Batteries
So I have a Commtiva phone with me while I attend 3GPP Plenary meetings in Aruba (it wasn't my choice of location, honest) and I am getting much the same experience as David. At 7 degrees North the Sun is pretty intense and the performance of the solar cell in generating charge is pretty impressive. At the same time I also have a PowerCurve solar battery, which I can leave on the hotel room balcony during the day and then use to charge my Nokia during the night. That is also performing well, although the rate of actual charge transferral from the solar battery to the phone is not that great.
Yes and one of the biggest problems:
Placing the phone in a sunny environment, in a climate with warm ambient temperatures and heating up the LiON battery. This tends to be a battery killer.
Further, some devices sense the temperature of the battery and will power down to prevent LiON excessive heating.
Unfortunately, I believe external solar power units (like solio or the newer energizer platforms) are going to be the solution until a solution for the heating problem is found.
Brian
You raise a really good point on the battery temperature. I know that there are a couple of ways of protecting batteries under the high temp conditions, for the Commtiva phone we put a high temp cut off in at 60C so that the battery will be protected if the temperature rises above this. This doesn't suggest that the ambient temperature has to get close to 60C, with a combination of the sun directly on the phone, especially under glass then phones have a tendency to get warm.
Perhaps solar energy can be bolstered by energy from ambient radio waves in the atmosphere? Nokia is working on developing a system that can tap these radio waves and turn them into a power source, according to an article by MIT Technology Review. Apparently, there is sufficient electromagnetic radiation being transmitted by Wi-Fi transmitters, cell-phone antennas, TV masts etc. to keep a mobile phone battery topped up.
A Nokia researcher is quoted as saying current prototypes can only harness between 3 and 5 milliwatts of power, but his group is working towards a system that could harvest up to 50 milliwatts of power, which would be enough to recharge a handset. The technology could be commercially available within three to four years, he told the Review.
Although this kind of ambient energy is used to charge RFID tags and other sensors with very lower-power requirements, Nokia appears to be breaking new ground by trying to harvest 50 milliwatts and will need to be able to tap a very wide band of frequencies to succeed.
was
"
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, several solar-powered handsets from the likes of LG, Samsung and ZTE were on display. Also check out, www.intivation.nl, which develops solar-powered mobile phones, chargers and battery packs and won the GSMA’s Most Innovative Wireless Device-centric Technology award in Barcelona.
"
I have tested solar-powered handsets for more than 10 years.
To stick a solar panel on a back of your handset and fix PCB is an easy job.
The issue is, for the whole sunny day, your handset is in your pocket, so you can't make any reasonable use of it in your business time.
In the night, your handset is out of pocket, but there is no sun.
If you are interested I can refer you to my article on, who solar-powered handsets are not US-patentable.
The same problem with already 20 years old ideas like dynamo charger.
One reliable solution is power generator
and another is fuel-cell generator by Sony and others.
For One-Laptop-Per-Child Project by Prof.Negroponte I have developed 4 alternative powering technologies.
But fuel-cells look the most optimistic solution in the coming years.
Solar cells for netbooks, notebooks are very expensive vs. price of gas or LPG powered power generators.
Latest product from Asia, from the series of solar powered GSM accesories/devices
is wireless bluetooth speaker for handsets, priced at about $100.
Frankly speaking I am still awaiting an announcement by Steve Jobs, Apple,
of another challenging handset powering standard technology for iPhone.
What David calls radio waves energy is an old series of innovations by Tesla.
You are free to visit my Semantic WWW Magazines devoted to Tesla and his innovations at Google.
If you are really looking for low free low energies, my shoes with piezo generator come as a good example.
Already incorporated into military shoes as an alternative source of low power energy.
Ideas are good.
Unfortunately life is real and Free-Energy is my another Semantic WWW Magazine with Google.
Great invention from UK, which came to Africa 15 years ago was dynamo powered radio.
Today you can get one on eBay or at Metro markets Europe-wide as well as in Electronic shops in the States.
I must admit, I am very successful inventor of 2-sim cards handset (10 years ago).
Nowadays, your USIM card can emulate 10+ sim cards in one (see USIM apps on eBay).
Darius
Global Mobile Money HUB (GMMH)
Global Mobile Money Bank (GMMB)
http://www.tinyurl.com/globalmobilemoney/
Some interesting potential solutions to the battery problem were highlighted by the start-ups pitching to the operator representatives and venture capitalists at the Mobile Innovation Marketplace in Barcelona yesterday.
Jitu Batra of GreenFire Technologies made the eyecatching assertion that his company has developed a docking station that could power a mobile device in less than 60 seconds using a variety of charging technologies, including solar power. That sounds almost too good to be true, but Batra said the firm has a prototype compatible with a BlackBerry. If anyone has had an opportunity to test the GreenFire charger, post your thoughts here.
Meanwhile, Stefan Donat of IDENT Technology pitched a sensor technology that can detect when a device has been put into a pocket or brief case and then switch off the device’s display immediately. The concept sounds similar to that behind the sensors that were used in HP’s iPaq devices and other handheld computers to determine the ambient light levels and then adjust the screen’s brightness accordingly.
While these kinds of smart sensors won’t solve the battery problem single-handedly, they will make an important contribution - powering large, high-resolution displays is one of the main reasons that today’s smartphones often don’t last a day of heavy usage.
For more coverage of the Mobile Innovation Marketplace in Barcelona, please go to: http://mobileinnovation2009.wordpress.com/
I contacted GreenFire and got the following answer
"
Darius,
The small size solar charger is a concept design for future , we cannot work on it today due to the limitations of today's commercially viable solar panels.
We have evaluated multiple solar panel but most of hem are slow , the one which we use today is 4 times the size of what u see on the screen ad take 10-12 hrs of direct sunlight.
Let me know if you have any more questions
Thanks
Jitu
"
What is called sensor solution is a standard in most of handhelds.
Some come with light sensor (Nokia Internet Tablet, iPhone), some with mechanical switch (notebooks, handhelds by Motorola and other flip/clamshell models) and finally one can set screen saver's timeout in Settings/Options of any standard handheld.
The issue with solar panels is I have tested about 100 models of panels, imported from every part of the world, any vendor and quality of present solar panels is really poor, as once manufactured as clear one sheet solar panel are today made as by-product of small solar strips, coated with photopolymer, or another plastic (I mean small-size solar panels only).
So if not photovoltaic energy, kinetic dynamo, I worked on for One-Laptop-Per-Child Project by Prof. Negroponte from MIT is a great chance to keep you fit and have your handheld working perpetually.
But I am still looking for the way to buy extra life for battery of my notebook.
And once again, smart solution comes from $100 laptop Project.
LED screen can switch into mono mode to save on energy.
Mayby eOLED screen + low power transmitter + inductive/capacitor chargers,
coming with 60 s charging time are another option ?
Update: IDENT and Electro Power Systems, which supplies fuel cell systems for base stations, were chosen today by the judges in Barcelona as the winners of the EMEA leg of the 2010 Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition. I have since taken a closer a look at IDENT - it seems like its SKINPLEX technology creates an electric field and then monitors the interaction between that field and the natural conductivity of the human body to figure out if someone is about to use the device or has stashed it in their pocket or left it on a table. SKINPLEX then uses that info to decide whether to wake the device up or put it to sleep. Clever stuff!
For more info, go to:
http://www.ident-technology.com/
I am just coming back from 3-day Expo Motor Show
with ZeroEnergy Handheld solutions.
Must contact my professor, global expert in 3.5G HSPA+ networks to discuss the implementation,
as all I can do is to file patent application and contact manufactures of handhelds from Asia,
as joining Nokia Maemo and contacting COB at NOKIA I did all my best to have virtual keyboard solution to be implemented into one model of Nokia handheld.
Unfortunately Nokia is too big corporation for solutions like virtual keyboard for multi-touch handhelds.
On the other hand, excellent iPhone accesories come over and over again in business newsletters from China market.
One company at EXPO came with ultra light batteries for electric cars solutions.
Unfortunately, battery chemical base is not safe for use in handheld batteries.
Solutions provided by IDENT are welcome by the Commission of the European Union
under clean energy directive.
Stand-by solutions in home and office appliances, equipment, should be exactly replaced by zero-power solutions within the next few years.
Darius
Semantic WWW Magazines (Global Free Energy)
http://groups.google.com/group/global-free-energy?hl=en
Inadequate batteries may become less of an issue with the introduction of an universal charger, a concept that was endorsed by the European Commission yesterday after being proposed by the GSMA and 17 leading operators and handset makers in February.
As more and more handsets use Micro-USB as a charging interface, it is easy to imagine that in Europe and the U.S., coffee shops, bars, stations, trains, hotels and many other public places will stock a handful of these standard chargers for their customers to use.
Similarly, if you are visiting a friend or a business associate, their charger should be compatible with your device, enabling you to give your battery a boost while you sit and talk.
That doesn’t mean the battery issue will go away, particularly in the developing world. In much of Africa and India, where many people use basic Nokia handsets, finding an electric socket, rather than a compatible charger, is likely to be the much bigger issue.
As discussed above, the ultimate and most hassle-free universal charging solution would be to draw power from daylight or the ambient radio waves in the atmosphere. But in the meantime, the widespread availability of Micro-USB chargers should be a major step forward.
Sony has made some big claims for its new Olivine-type lithium iron phosphate battery technology. The Japanese electronics giant claims that rechargeable batteries using this substance as a cathode material will have a lifespan four times as long as the existing secondary lithium ion batteries used in most consumer electronics devices today, being able to undergo 2,000 charge-discharge cycles. That is good news, given the frustrating way that lithium ion batteries' performance often deteriorates significantly after less than a year of use. Sony also claims the new batteries can be 99% recharged in just 30 minutes.
Apparently, the new technology will be used first in power tool batteries before being "expanded to a wide range of other mobile electronic devices."
If Sony's claims turn out to be true, this could be quite a breakthrough.
Fuel-cells for mobile devices are finally becoming commercially available. Well, kind of. From October 29th, Toshiba will start selling 3,000 units of its new “limited edition” Dynario fuel cell at the hefty price of 29,800 yen (324 US dollars) each in Japan. A set of five cartridges, each containing enough fuel to charge about eight mobile phones, costs a further 3,150 yen ($34).
That might seem like a lot of money, but a fuel cell does deliver electricity fast. Toshiba says the Dynario, which produces electricity via a chemical reaction between methanol and ambient oxygen, can generate enough power to charge two typical mobile phones in about 20 seconds. About the size of a video-cassette, the Dynario supplies power to a mobile phone or digital media player via a USB cable as it is filled with methanol from one of the dedicated cartridges.
Each cartridge contains 50 ml of highly concentrated methanol and a single refill of the Dynario (14ml) apparently generates enough power to charge two typical mobile phones. Some of the power generated can be stored in the Dynario’s on-board lithium-ion battery.
Toshiba says it will use customer reaction and opinion to the Dynario to help it develop its fuel cell technology further.
Clearly, fuel cells will have to become a lot, lot cheaper before they will appeal to ordinary consumers and there is also the question of whether people will be comfortable carrying around bottles of methanol. But the fast recharging time is a big advantage over alternatives.
What do you think? Will fuel-cells fly?
I think there is huge potential for this technology. Verticals, such as the military, healthcare and auto industry has immediate needs for hybrid li-ion batteries with a cartridge that can charge batteries instantly. Just think of all those electric cars on the road that would benefit from this technology...