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NEC Battery Charges in 30 Seconds

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the quick-fixes dept.

Tomo Hiratsuka writes "NEC's new battery uses polymers that turn to gel, allowing it to be flexible and to charge to full capacity in just 30 seconds. It's apparently destined for smartcards and the evil that is RFID."

20 comments

  1. Yeah, by ScaryFroMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    but does it block transmissions as well as tinfoil?

    --
    In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
  2. A curious item, but not remarkably impressive. by Dual_View · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Power sources, batteries, and generators are rather ubiquitous items in this day and age. If they manufacture it (and especially if they refine the design so that it holds a greater charge), then people will INVENT uses for it, which may or may not be a good thing. Right now, I suspect that this could be good as backup power for small electric/electronic items, such as alarm clocks and flashlights, and possibly a PDA (depending on how much battery power it requires).

    When they make one of these batteries that can run a modern-day laptop computer for 3 or 4 hours straight, I'll be more impressed. However, it's still good to know that it's environmentally friendly.

  3. more specs? by lsblogs · · Score: 1

    Must be either over tired, or going blind in my old age but I cant find the ": More pics of the battery and full technical details after the "Read on" link." Where is the read on link? Cant find the specs, like the mAh of the battery etc.

    --
    Free Blog submission, find blogs, tools and more at LS Blogs
  4. Really interesting! by vidarlo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is three things that is important with a battery:

    • charge time
    • Power Density
    • Cost
    Usually, it is a pick any two, but quick-charge batteries has not been economic or efficient.

    I'd be glad to have a battery with a 2-day capacity in my mobile phone, if I could recharge it in a flash. Half a minute is quick enough that I can do it wherever I am. Like at a gas station when I'm out of battery on my mobile...

    Though I see one problem for big capacity batteries: The charge current. To charge a 1Ah battery, you (more or less) have to supply 1A for one hour. Or 3.6kA for 1 second. Or 120A for 30 seconds. And 1Ah ain't far from what you have in your cell phone (usually between 500mAh and 1000mAh). So how the heck are we gonna supply such a current?

    This, as I see it, is the main reason, why electrical cars never can be charged in less than a few hours. It'll need insane currents!

    --
    Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
    1. Re:Really interesting! by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      You could use high voltage and the a step down transformer in the battery pack.
      But that is the issue. For a car you have to put a lot of energy in fast. Charging a battery can never be as fast as filling up a tank with fuel.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    2. Re:Really interesting! by vidarlo · · Score: 1

      You could use high voltage and the a step down transformer in the battery pack. But that is the issue. For a car you have to put a lot of energy in fast. Charging a battery can never be as fast as filling up a tank with fuel. And have to handle both high voltage, and extreme current rectification in the battery pack? Nah, don't think so! I guess the practical usefull area for quick-charge batteries will be hand-held items. Less than 1Ah, and you can generally manage to charge it in a minute or so. But more than that? No, not really. Just think of the interconnects in the battery. 2"x4" solid aluminium perphaps?

      --
      Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
    3. Re:Really interesting! by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      "Just think of the interconnects in the battery. 2"x4" solid aluminium perhaps?" Copper or Silver more likely. I didn't say it would a lot more practical. You would gain smaller cable coming from the chargers for the weight of the transformer in the battery pack.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    4. Re:Really interesting! by vidarlo · · Score: 1
      Copper or Silver more likely. I didn't say it would a lot more practical. You would gain smaller cable coming from the chargers for the weight of the transformer in the battery pack.

      No, not really. The cost of silver or copper is so much higher that it is cheaper to have more aluminium. But a transformer in the battery pack would absolutely pay off. But still, the currents involved would be huge, even at the high voltage side. So, for much above 1Ah, it will never be realistic. Physical laws dictate this. Only expection might be gas stations having huge capacitor batteries charged, ready to discharge into your electrical car, so you can drive away a minute later. This _might_ work... Let the capacitors charge while waiting for next customer.

      --
      Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
    5. Re:Really interesting! by tehdaemon · · Score: 1
      Forget capacitors, use these batteries. Not only do they take high charge currents, they can output high currents. They ran a PC on one of these the size of 3 credit cards. (from the article - 15 seconds only) Most batteries cannot output all of their power that fast without serious damage.

      Another use would be hybrid cars. The regenerative braking part especially. You have high currents produced and needed.

      --
      Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
    6. Re:Really interesting! by vidarlo · · Score: 1
      Another use would be hybrid cars. The regenerative braking part especially. You have high currents produced and needed.

      Yes, but not electrical cars that needs to be charged quickly. Nor any other kind of instrument where this battery really would make a revolution.

      --
      Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
  5. Evil? by Eightyford · · Score: 1

    and the evil that is RFID

    Oooh technology... scary! Youd think an editor at Slashdot would be the last person that would be against such a useful technology.

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    1. Re:Evil? by FrontalLobe · · Score: 1

      Right... Its only technology. It would be the people who decide "Hey! Wouldn't it be great to put these in peoples hands or foreheads and make a global monetary system" that would be evil...

      --
      -FL
    2. Re:Evil? by Linux_ho · · Score: 1

      Hey, barcodes do almost the same thing, and look at all the evil that's been done with them. Didn't you read "Jennifer Government" by Max Barry?

      --
      include $sig;
      1;
    3. Re:Evil? by dorkygeek · · Score: 2, Insightful
      There exist extremely interesting applications of RFID outthere. Don't just simply march with all those dumbminded technology haters, which were already against TV, computers and robots back then!

      --
      Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
    4. Re:Evil? by FrontalLobe · · Score: 1

      Right, and I work for a company that is doing a lot with RFID. I haven't gotten involved with any of the applications yet, but I'm sure its probably just a matter of time before I do... If I was dead set against the technology, I'd have quit a long time ago.

      --
      -FL
    5. Re:Evil? by dorkygeek · · Score: 1
      Exactly! Worst thing is, even consumer protection boards are now jumping the bandwagon. Instead, they should have thought about the many advantages RFID brings, e.g. uninterruptible goods tracking from one end of the value creation chain to the other, tracking of packets on distribution sites, better surveillance of product freshness, etc.

      But maybe I am just irritated by all the aversions people have these days.

      --
      Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
  6. Notice... by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    They never mention the capacity?

    If the capacity is like 30mAh at 3v then no sleh the thing can charge in 30 seconds ...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    1. Re:Notice... by anielsud · · Score: 2, Informative

      This battery is very similar to a lithium polymer battery, but has different benefits and drawbacks. ORB's standout feature is not it's energy density, which is good, but no better than Lithium Ion - on the order of 10kW/kg and 10Wh/kg.

      What sets this technology apart is the extremely high current rates at which it can charge and discharge. Where Li-Poly (which has the largest discharge rate relative to capacity and weight) is able to charge at between 3 and 10 times the capacity, and lithium ion is limited to a mere 0.7 times capacity, ORB is on the order of 60 times capacity.

      This makes it suited to situations where high amperage is needed, but for short bursts, such as in UPS systems, which is what NEC demonstrated the battery with. They were able to sustain a 100 watt system for around 15 seconds using 4 "small, thin ORB cells (each the size of 3 stacked credit cards)." Using Ni-Mh the power system would have to be massively oversized to support this level of power output, which is why you still see UPS units using lead acid batteries instead of the more exotic technology available today.

  7. Correction by tehdaemon · · Score: 1
    FTA : "That application used four batteries each of which measure 55mm by 43mm and are 4mm thick, which is about the same size a stack of three credit cards."

    Four, not one the size of 3 credit cards.

    --
    Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
  8. Electric Car? by hyperbotfly · · Score: 1

    Well, that's nice, but I think it would be to their benefit to scale the thing up about 1000 times and use it in transportation. Who wouldn't want an electric car that could be recharged in 30 seconds? That's faster than I can pump in liquified ancient microbe remains!