New Battery Technology Powers For 12 Years

wellington map writes "University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists say they are developing a new lithium battery technology capable of making batteries smaller, last longer and, soon, accept a charge from outside the body without the need for surgery. These organosilicon batteries are projected to power tiny implantable devices for more than 12 years."

Comments

Blegh.

[FireballX301]

MADISON, Wis., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists say they are developing super-charged tiny lithium batteries to help treat nervous system and other disorders.

Key word there, 'developing'. The article gives basically no information at all about how it works.

I remember a story about human-powered pacemakers and such though - did those pan out? Seems that those would be more useful than these low-current batteries.

Re:Blegh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Also the summary doesn't make sense without the word 'pacemaker' in there somewhere. I had to actually read the article!

Re:Blegh.

[ikkonoishi]

This should be insightful not funny. Those things can build up quite a charge.

Re:Blegh.

[Elrac]

The grandparent is mildly funny but not a bit insightful, probably because the poster is unaware of the physics behind static electricity.

First, the idea of using static electricity to power devices inside a human is pretty hard to implement because in order to be useful, a device would need to be connected to both of the mutually charged components, and that potential difference will have to be transformed into DC at the battery's voltage of around 1-9 V.

Whichever piece of clothing is on the person's skin will have the same potential as that person, whose body is highly conductive as far as static electricity is concerned. That takes care of one side, as our device is already very well connected to the human.

So how will one gain access to the charge on the other piece of clothing? Have the person wear a layer of tinfoil over the outer garment? Sounds less than practical in the summertime. Have him drag a metal chain over any carpets he walks over? Folks, we're trying to improve quality of life here, not worsen it.

Now, having a charge of a few microcoulombs with a potential difference of maybe 20,000 volts, how are we going to transform it to a usefully large current at battery voltage? Hint: Transformers need AC to work, not DC. The microelectronics used to chop up DC into AC hate high voltages.

There's a reason why there are no (or virtually no) applications that use lightning or static electricity as an energy source.

Battery Lifetime

[divide overflow]

From the article:

A critical advantage of the new battery technology is lifespan: "If you're going to implant these things, you want a (battery) lifetime of at least 10 years," said West, whose organosilicon batteries are projected to power tiny implantable devices for more than 12 years.

I presume that "10 year minimum lifetime" is the typical lifespan of the the receiver of the implantable device.

More info from source

[Peregr1n]

Information on this from the university itself can be found here (not much info, but more technical than the article)

Re:Screw Viagra...

[EtherealStrife]

it keeps growing and growing and growing

Where's the nearest surgeon?

[Cow Jones]

I'll gladly implant my iPod mini if that means it will run for 12 years.
And it won't event scratch if I nudge it between my liver and stomach!

Re:Where's the nearest surgeon?

[Anonymous Writer]

Where's the nearest surgeon?

You don't need a surgeon. Just lube. And make sure your Mini is in a protective case.

Re:Where's the nearest surgeon?

[StarfishOne]

You forget the fact that some people will get an allergic reaction from apples..

I'm no EE, but...

[No Salvation]

What I want to see are giant Telsa coils at airports, restaurants, etc. that shoot bolts of electricity out and recharge people's pacemakers. What could possibly go wrong?

Would be good for cochlear implants

[Anonymous Coward]

Buying & changing batteries for people like me with a cochlear implant is a major pain - something like this would be fantastic.

Re:Would be good for cochlear implants

[MichaelSmith]

Buying & changing batteries for people like me with a cochlear implant is a major pain - something like this would be fantastic.

I thought the only implanted component was powered by induction from outside.

Using a coil and background power?

[dascandy]

What about preserving power in a capacitor and using a coil to recharge it from background radiation? By now people are constantly in a sort of electromagnetic field, so if you switch between two of them you should be able to generate a current, with a few proper diodes etc. you could charge a capacitor with that... given people that are still alive and enough mobile phone use, it would work?

You might just get into a fight with the people next to you, since you're in a way using their mobile phone battery to reload your pacemaker. On the other hand, calling in public and in hospitals would become accepted and even encouraged.

Re:Using a coil and background power?

[InvalidError]

This does not work particularly well.

First, RF energy is fairly weak. Second, it is readily absorbed by tissues and water. Third, even the lowest forward voltage rectifiers still need more than 0.1V to conduct while antenna voltages are typically under 0.01V.

It would be possible to use a high-Q resonnant circuit to boost the voltage to a rectifiable level but such circuits are effective only over a very small frequency band which pretty much requires a tuned source, effectively ruling out most random external sources.

Since cell. phones transmit at most 1W while talking and are likely to be more than 1m away from such a coil and not directly in front of them, the power density would be under 1mW per square inch. Add skin absorbption (assuming the coil is directly under the skin) and you are left with less than 500uW, assuming there is always at least one phone operating at its maximum output power within 1m in front of your coiled side.

Possible? Yes, if the typical implant requires less than 100uW and there is always someone talking on his/her cell. phone within ~2m of you 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Practical? No.

BTW, your North-America 1900MHz RF-charged pace-maker would not work in 1800MHz Europe and areas that either have no cell. service or have already upgraded to G3.

Region-dependent life-saving devices? I'll pass.

May be ok for humans

[Anonymous Coward]

But I used to work for a large battery company, and I can guarentee you they will always ensure they have a short life.

More batteries to buy.

And about 90% of a battery is recyclable...Scrap places will buy them for around $1 per battery.

Step backwards

[dustrider]

Best thing I've seen for implanted devices, such as cochlear implants is an article from two years ago by some japanese researchers than managed to build a fuel cell based on blood.

It mimics the processes of mitochondria in human cells, i.e. uses glucose and O2 to create some form of ionisation.

So why have a battery that expires in 12 years when you could just have something that is indeffinately powered by your own body processes, and lose a little weight in the process.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/03/10598492 78131.html

Re:Step backwards

[rufty_tufty]

That was always a weight loss idea of mine...
First you need to implant a couple of discrete tubes into a major vein and artery (how you stop the body from forming clots in them when not in use though I don;t know).
Then when you want to loose weight you wear this shirt that plugs into these tubes. The jacket burns the glucose and O2 and radiates the resulting heat keeping you warm at the same time.

If too many deposits build up then it's easier to buy a new jacket than replace an implant.

<silly voice>
Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
</silly voice>

Re:Step backwards

[jamesh]

Along the same lines, it seems like they have accomplished two mutually unnecessary feats. If it can be charged from outside the body, then it hardly needs to last 12 years does it?

If you created a battery that should be charged every 12 months (but would run for, say, 36 months in case you were a bit slack about your yearly checkup+recharge), it could be much smaller than the 12 year version. And I for one would feel much better knowing I wasn't carrying around so much lithium.

Make sure you don't use the cheaper third party battery though, they've been known to explode :)

Re:Step backwards

[BlueTrin]

I think that means that you can charge it during these 12 years without loss in intensity or quality in the signal delivered. But not that you don't need to charge it for 12 years.

Re:Never realized this..

[tsa]

About 6 years for a pacemaker. And by that time technology has advanced so much that you want a new pacemaker, so they never change the batteries in pacemakers, but they just put a new pacemaker in.

All very weel and good

[Timberwolf0122]

But when are they going to get me a laptop that can last 12 years bewteen charges!?

Instead of lithium organo-what ever why not use decay from an alpha source with a long (20+years) halflife? the alpha emmissions can be shielded by a modest tianium/glass shell

Re:All very weel and good

[TheRaven64]

I think the parent poster was slightly confused, and was thinking about beta, not alpha emitters. A beta particle is an electron, and betavoltics involves methods of capturing these and generating current from them. This kind of power plant is useful in things like space probes, since it has a very long life. Unfortunately, the amount of current is fairly low. They might possibly be able to power something like a laptop in conjunction with a conventional battery - use the chemical battery for 6-hours a day, and have it trickle-charged by the betavoltic battery overnight. This would allow someone to take a laptop far away from civilisation and still have it working.

An other down side for betavoltic batteries is that they never actually stop generating power during their usable life span. A normal battery only `generates' electricity while it is connected to a circuit - a betavoltic cell constantly generates power which must be either used or wasted (although there's no reason you couldn't run the CPU in low-power mode running SETI@Home or something when the chemical battery is full).

The other main down side is that they gradually lose power over time. Every half-life (12.3 years for Tritium), the power output halves, meaning it will take twice as long to recharge your chemical battery. Of course, it is possible to extract the remaining tritium from the cell and re-use it, but this will require effort (and energy).

Story is a non-story

[Ancient_Hacker]

Some university PR hack had a quota to fulfill for last month. This isnt really news. Anybody can try at "developing" a better battery. And recharging from outside the body has nothing to do with the battery-- it's been succesfully done for decades with a little coil of wire. Absolutely nothing to see here.

Lithium?

[Blitzenn]

Sounds good until the first one leaks and kills it's host. Lithium in the human body is a dangerous substance to mess with. To make a battery out of it, requires that you cause it to become unstable, shed electrons. Lithium also makes a great propellant and explosive. Lithium is also used as a drug. Unfortunately it's use is precluded in patients with significant renal or cardiovascular disease, severe debilitation or dehydration, or sodium depletion, since the risk of lithium toxicity is very high in such patients. These are exactly the same patients that would be candidates to receive such devices. The risk of leakage may be very small, but the toxicity associated with such an event would be fatal in most of the patients that would be receiving the device. I highly doubt that they could ever receive approval for the battery with these facts being known.

Re:Lithium?

[general_re]

Considering that pacemakers have been powered by lithium batteries for nearly thirty years now, I suspect that the lithium content of any new battery will hardly be a dealbreaker.

Misleading story

[Dan East]

Once again we see a story that is misleading, probably in an attempt to simply get accepted by the Slashdot editors.

The battery has a lifetime of 12 years, meaning that it can be discharged and charged enough times to last for 12 years before it needs to be replaced. In similar terms, my notebook battery lasts around 2 years. After 2 years of normal use the battery's capacity has been reduced to the point I need a new one.

Dan East

Recharging

[LinuxInDallas]

Well, there are already rechargeable medical implantable devices based on Li-Ion on the market today. I'm not certain why the article seems too imply this is not already going on.

Rechargable without surgery

[obtuse]

Those damn inductive devices are dangerous, but recharge without surgery is important, since most people won't tolerate a plug. I have an alcohol fuel cell that resides in my stomach to power my pacemaker, and I don't get so many DUIs now. You can recognize us by our copious CO2 belches. It's a lot better than the old days when I had to swallow the extension cord & then plug it all in.

Patent pending.

9 year models already available

[chipace]

Medtronic's neurostimulator (for pain treatment) lasts at least 9 years. The Japanese government sponsored the development of a rechargable pacemaker, but found that IC and manufacturing advances made devices more than 5 years old obselete. Recently, advances in data storage and wireless distance/data transfer have given new features to mature treatments.

http://www.medtronic.com/neuro/restore/noFlash.htm l