New Battery Technology Powers For 12 Years 128
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."
Blegh. (Score:5, Interesting)
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. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Blegh. (Score:2, Funny)
OMG! Are you alright?
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Blegh. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Blegh. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
I'm no EE, but I though transformers only needed a changing electromagnetic field to work, not strictly an AC field. If so, you would really only need to pulse a dc source into a transformer coil to get it to work, kind of like how automobile ignition coils work... (remember kids, a dc pulse is one half of an ac sweep). Then dump the output into an cap/resistor to even out the pulses and you have dc current.
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
With 'slightly' being the operative word. I've been using a toothbrush [oralb.com] for the past ten years or so that uses this 'technology'. Power from outside the body? woop-di-doo! Any 11 year old with an electric toothbrush and a clue could figure that out in minutes!
(Those electric toothbrushes are sealed units, they use an inductive charging system, a little coil of fine copper wire in the base of the toothbrush, another coil a few millimetres a
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
DUPE!!! (Score:1)
Radio frequency induce voltage to tiny device, stored in small capacitor/lithium battery.
and as a side effect, read the firmware health of the pacemaker.
Re:Blegh. (Score:2)
Re:Blegh. (Score:1)
Never realized this.. (Score:1)
Re:Never realized this.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Never realized this.. (Score:1)
Make them openable and you're seriously comprimised them.
Re:Never realized this.. (Score:2)
Re:Never realized this.. (Score:1)
Re:Never realized this.. (Score:1)
Screw Viagra... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Screw Viagra... (Score:3, Funny)
Battery Lifetime (Score:3, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:More info from source (Score:2)
Where's the nearest surgeon? (Score:3, Funny)
And it won't event scratch if I nudge it between my liver and stomach!
Re:Where's the nearest surgeon? (Score:5, Funny)
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? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Where's the nearest surgeon? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm no EE, but... (Score:5, Funny)
I am gonna buy this (Score:1)
Here is a murder-for-profit plot: (Score:2)
2. Choose an unpleasant relative (who has a remotely-rechageable implant).
3. Offer the chair (and step back).
5. Sue the battery manufacturer!!
(Now, if you pool your implant-malfunctioning relatives with other parties you can do class-action suit instead)
Re:Here is a murder-for-profit plot: (Score:1)
Batteries of Mass Destruction? (Score:2)
Are they sure they want to be putting Apple out of business like that?
(chortle-chortle)
Would be good for cochlear implants (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Would be good for cochlear implants (Score:4, Informative)
I thought the only implanted component was powered by induction from outside.
Re:Would be good for cochlear implants (Score:1)
Re:Would be good for cochlear implants (Score:1)
I would think that would be pretty cool.
Using a coil and background power? (Score:3, Interesting)
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? (Score:2)
First of all, a coil only generates current when the magnetic flux through the coil is changing. Having 2 coils embedded in a static magnetic field and switching between them will get you nothing. The field has to be changing.
Second of all, the background magnetic field is low enough that a coil you could implant, moving at speeds that a human body could withstand would generate far less than the 0.2V needed to forward bias a Schottky diode, so you have no way to rec
Re:Using a coil and background power? (Score:2)
so all a person would have to do is walk in circles around people on their cell phone!
that solves several problems at once! first you get power for your pace maker, you get exercise, and you annoy the heck out of people on cell phones!
Re:Using a coil and background power? (Score:3, Informative)
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 extern
Re:Using a coil and background power? (Score:1)
Re:Using a coil and background power? (Score:2)
As far as diode 'losses' go, this is not about
Re:Using a coil and background power? (Score:1)
YAY! (Score:1)
Finally, it will last longer than an hour without changing batteries!!
^^
Just a note (Score:1)
Re:Just a note (Score:1)
Re:Just a note (Score:1)
Re:Just a note (Score:1)
May be ok for humans (Score:2, Interesting)
More batteries to buy.
And about 90% of a battery is recyclable...Scrap places will buy them for around $1 per battery.
Step backwards (Score:5, Insightful)
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/2003/08/03/1059849
Re:Step backwards (Score:2, Insightful)
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>
We
Re:Step backwards (Score:3, Insightful)
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 c
Re:Step backwards (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Step backwards (Score:1)
So instead of having surgery to replace their battery every 3 or 4 years or whatever, patients only need the surgery every 12 years, which is clearly a huge advance.
Re:Step backwards (Score:1)
So unless the system itself can self maintain, your device is limited by the lifetime of its components.
Rechargable without surgery (Score:3, Funny)
Patent pending.
All very weel and good (Score:3, Interesting)
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 (Score:1)
Micheal
Re:All very weel and good (Score:5, Informative)
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).
Re:All very weel and good (Score:2)
Re:All very weel and good (Score:1)
Re:All very weel and good (Score:2)
Re:All very weel and good (Score:1)
1. Have you ever tried to get the NRC and the FDA to work together? And don't forget these people have to be able to leave the country.
2. Worries about shielding. Pacemakers can, and do, get damaged.
3. Possiblity of a race of mutant zombies arising from the corpses of people who had nuclear pacemakers.
Re:All very weel and good (Score:2)
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen
cool, but... (Score:1)
How do they do that? Do they implant a receptacle for a Nokia charger into your skin?
Re:cool, but... (Score:1)
Re:cool, but... (Score:1)
Story is a non-story (Score:3, Informative)
Wireless recharging (Score:1)
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/10
I guess the big deal with this "announcement" is the projected battery life. The wireless charging aspect is existing technology, and makes sense when you consider their target market - implantables.
Lithium? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lithium? (Score:4, Insightful)
Only 12 years? (Score:1)
Seriously, I make a point never to use disposable batteries if I can avoid it. Fossil fuels suck balls, but mains power is still more efficient than any battery technology will ever be.
Re:Only 12 years? (Score:1)
do you realize how much energy is lost on all those ac/dc converters running 24x7 all over your house.
if you really want to save energy use lithium rechargeables, then unplug the charger.
Re:Only 12 years? (Score:1)
Although
Misleading story (Score:3, Insightful)
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 (Score:3, Informative)
I have a naturally positive charge (Score:1)
Re:I have a naturally positive charge (Score:1)
Some people have slightly damaged natural pacemakers, and some have ones that are essentially dead, with many in between.
The ones that are only slightly damaged can be triggered by a very low voltage from a pacemaker. Slightly more than the heart itself can provide, but enough.
Many of those people, like me, can also live without our pacemakers. Our heartrate just drops to about 40 beats a minutes. So my pacema
the ten year ones dont last as it is. (Score:1)
9 year models already available (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.medtronic.com/neuro/restore/noFlash.htm l [medtronic.com]
Wow! how high-tech! (Score:1)
My --ing razor has --ing been working that way since 1997. That's no --ing innovation.
(sorry Mr.Pratchett)
I initially read this as... (Score:1)
Implantable devices? ALL -- RIGHT -- (Score:1)
Mandatory (Score:2)
(Well, for the first twelve years anyways, we'll see who gets the last laugh then!)
Long-life pacemakers (Score:2)
Re:Long-life pacemakers (Score:1)
This should be in the Power section (Score:1)
Actually I would have entitled it "Energy" but most people confuse the terms anyway.
Re:20+ year old battery still going (Score:1)