lithium-ion

Review: The 10,050mAH Power Bank From ASUS

June 14, 2015 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Power banks can be real life savers – a statement no smartphone user will disagree with. I’d say, if consumer-tech industry has come up with anything purposeful in recent times, then it’s these cute-and-handy blocks of portable power. And ASUS appears to be sinking well into the smartphone scene. Now they have come up with well chiseled power banks too. They not only looks gorgeous, but also pack well in a sexy design.

(A quick heads up – This will be a review specifically and ONLY with the ‘form factor’ in context. Almost all leading companies offer well performing power banks. So performance is presumed to be at par with all similar products).

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Strength:

The form factor! Zenpower has been touted to be a credit sized portable devices. And there’s really no doubt about it. It’s convenient to carry and you can easily snug it into your pant’s pocket.

Shortcoming:

The device comes with a very short charging cable (a problem with most other brands too). A charging cable should ideally be longer, or at least the package should offer two separate cables. Where one cable can be long enough to plug into wall sockets. And the other cable can be meant for portability.

Current pricing: Between Rs. 1,500 to 1,800.

Digression – The number 10,050 is quite amusing. I think it’s only intended to help consumers uniquely search, recognise and associate (10,000 + the extra 50) mAH specifically with Zenpower. I doubt if they actually programmed the device to specifically hold the extra 50 mAH.

Err… what Raj? Okay. Just look up “10,050 mAH” on Google search.

Specification sheet:

Packed with 10050 mAh Lithium-ion
2.4A Quick Charge
11 Safety Features (especially JIETA Protection) and 6 international Certifications
215 gms in weight
Available in 5 color models
Protective Bumper – slip, scratch resistance
Plugging cycle test for 5000 times
Aluminum casing that can withstand 60kg of pressure.

Lithium-ion Batteries With Extreme Folding Capabilities

May 31, 2014 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – The idea of bending and twisting any electronic device can seem bizarre and discomforting. But, there are instances when such deformability can be very useful. One of the most desired capabilities while building any compact system is to allow deforming of larger devices and forcibly fitting them into smaller areas, possibly with no loss of intended behaviour and output. Let’s take a look at researches that aim to bring out lithium-ion batteries with extreme folding capabilities.

Origami Lithium-ion battery

The researchers at Arizona State University have built a origami lithium-ion battery with the main purpose to provide foldable solar panels for spacecrafts, particularly to save space (no pun intended!).

The following video shows how high deformability of lithium-batteries is very much achievable, while persisting high quality of output.

Via – [Nature]

Paper lithium-ion battery with 14 times more energy density when folded

Foldable battery — This illustration is demonstrating the possible folding pattern and ability of the battery

How about a battery made out of nanotube-coated paper that can be folded and unfolded like a map? The battery has been demonstrated to produce more energy when folded. Researchers are working on further improving the energy density.

This battery could find it’s use with the popular idea of “flexible” consumer electronics.

Via [PUBS.ACS.ORG]

Elastic/ Stretchable Lithium-Ion Batteries That Charge Wirelessly

These stretchable lithium-ion batteries can power tiny medical devices to be implantated inside the human body. The stretchable batteries within implanted devices could be wirelessly charged.

Via – [NorthWestern.EDU]

Lithium-ion Batteries Smaller Than Your Finger Nail

October 31, 2013 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – What is innovation? It is the act of improving something that is already established. The current generation of lithium-ion batteries are widely accepted as a preferred power source for portable consumer electronics. And such batteries have limitations when the overall output capacity, life cycle, safety and the application areas are considered. The following are some important researches from recent times that are aimed to optimise and expand the possible uses of lithium-ion batteries.

Powerful microbatteries that size up to few millimeters only, and also charge instantly

The illustration shows ions flowing between micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery, in congruence with the research.

This was made possible by setting a balance between high power and high energy, which is difficult to achieve in the current generation of batteries. These microbatteries are also said to charge instantly, like 1000 times quicker. They could power wireless devices to transmit signals 30 times faster.

And how about using them to jump-start a dead car battery? Yes, that’s on the list too.

The application areas are, but not limited to consumer electronics and medical devices.

Via [Illionis.EDU]

3D printing super-tiny lithium-ion microbatteries

3D printing has been used to demonstrate the possibility of printing miniature sized microbatteries, similar to a grain of sand. And the performance, with respect to charge and discharge cycles was found to be similar to commercial batteries.

Researchers produced inks for the anode and cathode from separate nano-particles. The 3D printer would then deposit the inks onto a comb shaped material. The battery was completed by packing the electrodes into a container and filling it with an electrolyte solution.

The application areas are both medical and non-medical industries.

Via [Seas.Harvard.EDU]