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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sandwich on April 20, 2013, 08:22:47 am

Title: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Sandwich on April 20, 2013, 08:22:47 am
http://phys.org/news/2013-04-small-size-big-power-microbatteries.html#ajTabs

Quote
Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

...

With so much power, the batteries could enable sensors or radio signals that broadcast 30 times farther, or devices 30 times smaller. The batteries are rechargeable and can charge 1,000 times faster than competing technologies – imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second. In addition to consumer electronics, medical devices, lasers, sensors and other applications could see leaps forward in technology with such power sources available

Poor battery life has beeen my major issue with smartphones. This seems able to change all that.

/me is cautiously excited
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Dragon on April 20, 2013, 08:26:58 am
That's very interesting. If they make a reasonably priced smartphone using them, with Android and a QWERTY keyboard, small enough to comfortably fit into a pocket, then this might even cause me to actually upgrade my phone. :)
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: headdie on April 20, 2013, 08:40:08 am
interesting, be interesting to see how long it takes to refine the technology into a private consumer level item
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: The E on April 20, 2013, 10:00:18 am
So long as they don't explode then provoked enough.....

Seriously, a battery with an energy density like that is something I would only want to carry in my pocket if it has been rather thoroughly tested.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Lorric on April 20, 2013, 10:09:50 am
Well, it certainly flashes the "too good to be true" hazard light, so I'll believe it when I see it, but it could well be one of the great inventions if it lives up to the hype.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Trivial Psychic on April 20, 2013, 11:52:52 am
By by handguns, hello Electrolasers (http://www.answers.com/topic/electrolaser)!  :yes:
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: headdie on April 20, 2013, 11:58:42 am
By by handguns, hello Electrolasers (http://www.answers.com/topic/electrolaser)!  :yes:

tbh laser tech in general from hand held tools to weaponary
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Fury on April 20, 2013, 12:13:18 pm
So long as they don't explode then provoked enough.....

Seriously, a battery with an energy density like that is something I would only want to carry in my pocket if it has been rather thoroughly tested.
Quite so. Safety is paramount in consumer level hardware. But at this point anything that can surpass our ****ty batteries is welcome. We've been stuck with current battery tech for two decades now.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Nuke on April 20, 2013, 06:15:08 pm
So long as they don't explode then provoked enough.....

Seriously, a battery with an energy density like that is something I would only want to carry in my pocket if it has been rather thoroughly tested.

you know i dont think the explosions have been caused by the batteries, i think its more to do with manufacturers using underrated components, or mismatching power demands with battery ratings. ive been using and abusing lithium cells for several years (without safety chips) and ive yet to make one explode. drawing way too much current, overheating them, sending them into the ground at insane velocities, charging them improperly (with a no frills not too smart charger of my own design layed out on a ****ing breadboard) with no reguard for cell balence.

i dont know what these manufacturers are doing. i suspect they are reducing the power demands of the devices in software, testing their power usage, and then using a battery with a power rating that can barely meet those demands. of course take it out of the factory setting into the real world, and those batteries are overtaxed. manufactureres cut way too many corners. is hate to think that my engineering is better than theirs.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Goober5000 on April 20, 2013, 06:41:10 pm
Very nice.  I guess the naysayers forgot about Mossad.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: BloodEagle on April 20, 2013, 06:44:21 pm
So I wanted to know the exact (Hell, an estimate would be nice) vol/amp rates rather than 'thousands of times betterer?' and found that the relevant information (http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2747.html) is behind a tollbooth.  I get that this is common among university research databases, but I still have to say that it's freaking annoying.  :banghead:

Assuming this all checks out, I'd like to see how it impacts the auto industry.

::EDIT::

Actually, that's not a university database (serves me right for not checking the link).  :wtf:
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: karajorma on April 21, 2013, 12:23:34 am
Don't believe the hype. Don't, don't, don't, don't believe the hype (http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/this-new-microbattery-is-interesting-but-not-as-good-as-the-hype/)[/Public Enemy]
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Nuke on April 21, 2013, 12:53:46 am
yea im not really impressed. i knew something was iffy when they didnt give us any specs.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: headdie on April 21, 2013, 03:15:38 am
Still an interesting concept though, but yer like karajorma's post says more research needs to be dont to see what the true capabilities are and if and where there is a place for them
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Sandwich on April 21, 2013, 04:54:16 am
Very nice.  I guess the naysayers forgot about Mossad.

:lol:
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Ghostavo on April 21, 2013, 05:02:04 am
And here I was wanting to never having to recharge my kindle ever again.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: BloodEagle on April 21, 2013, 12:59:09 pm
And here I was wanting to never having to recharge my kindle ever again.

Nuclear batteries exist.  ;7
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Nuke on April 21, 2013, 04:58:02 pm
And here I was wanting to never having to recharge my kindle ever again.

Nuclear batteries exist.  ;7

and can be had on the russian black market.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Luis Dias on April 22, 2013, 12:01:06 pm
regardless of hype, the reaction in the thread is funny as hell. A new revolutionary battery that could change the entire way we handle energy infrastructure for good. Reaction: "YEEEYY! BETTER SMARTPHONES!"

:lol:
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Klaustrophobia on April 22, 2013, 12:44:26 pm
a battery that loses 5% capacity every cycle isn't going to do wonders for the energy industry at large.  or smartphones either, for that matter.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Luis Dias on April 22, 2013, 12:45:44 pm
The point       --------->

Your head           O
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Scourge of Ages on April 22, 2013, 01:27:51 pm
Well we did get one good electro-laser post, and one about electric cars, so I'm good.

And if these batteries hold their charge long enough, and can be manufactured cheaply enough, then they would be pretty awesome for man-portable laser guns (can't believe I finally got to type that after all these years), even with the voltage drop with each cycle. Just picture dropping out microbattery packs like magazines, and recharging them when you get back to base after you're done alien hunting.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Nuke on April 22, 2013, 03:54:08 pm
i have a feeling that as soon as a lethal infantry issue portable laser rifle becomes available, it will immediately be banned by every treaty organization in the world. the reason for this is likely the large number of civilians that get blinded by being in near proximity to laser fights because they didnt get the standard issue laser goggles that the soldiers all have.

people have built laser guns that can punch through thin bits of metal. and they all require eye protection. now imagine what a system a few orders more powerful will do to ones eyesight (even just secondary reflected exposure).
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Dragon on April 22, 2013, 04:06:59 pm
Short pulses lasguns in IR spectrum should be much safer than industrial UV cutting lasers, even without googles. Using visible light for a laser is a rather stupid approach unless you want the beam to be seen (assuming you won't see a lighting bolt race through ionized air on every shot, that is).
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Phantom Hoover on April 22, 2013, 06:28:14 pm
I still have no idea how lasers are meant to be viable infantry weapons; it seems like wishful thinking informed by years of sci-fi percolating into the common consciousness.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Trivial Psychic on April 22, 2013, 06:32:51 pm
The electrolaser is just a wireless taiser.  It uses an ultraviolet laser to ionize the air between the emitter and the target.  Then it sends an electricity charge down the electrically-conductive air column shocking the target.  A low-intensity pulse is enough to stun them like the existing taiser, but you can dial-up the power and deliver enough of a shock to kill someone.

There was also the ability to trigger lightning from storms by firing an electrolaser through the storm, and allowing the cloud to generate the charge.  In theory, you could use it to direct a lightning strike on critical facilities of unfriendly nations, from a stealth aircraft and leave behind no evidence.  In fact, if you're a real jackass about it, you could even use it for strikes on allied nations, if you're trying to manipulate them to your wishes.
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: BloodEagle on April 22, 2013, 06:44:43 pm
I still have no idea how lasers are meant to be viable infantry weapons; it seems like wishful thinking informed by years of sci-fi percolating into the common consciousness.

Sniper Rifles.

Also, any situation where bullets would fail due to inaccuracies or traditional armor.

--

Using visible light for a laser is a rather stupid approach unless you want the beam to be seen (assuming you won't see a lighting bolt race through ionized air on every shot, that is).

Of course we want them to be seen! How else are people going to know to run the Hell away from our mighty (green) Empire?
Title: Re: Microbatteries - The Battery Breakthrough We've All Been Waiting For
Post by: Sandwich on April 22, 2013, 07:03:19 pm
Just picture dropping out microbattery packs like magazines, and recharging them when you get back to base after you're done alien hunting.

As depicted in Mass Effect 2 & 3. :)