Tag: battery

Texas Instruments brings fast charging, extended life to Li-ion batteries

Yesterday Texas Instruments introduced a couple of new chipsets (fuel gauge an charger ICs) designed to improve the charging speed and life expectancy of single-cell Li-ion batteries. The technology, called MaxLife, is expected to provide an improvement of up to 30 percent in battery service life and faster charging times . Cell impedance is carefully monitored by the fuel gauge chip while the charger IC uses a model of battery degradation to charge the cell in the most optimal way. Both chips are connected via an I2C bus to form an autonomous battery management system which, according to the company, is safer and more thermally efficient than existing solutions. The two chipsets (2.5A and 4.5A) are now available along with a development kit, so it’s only a matter of time until this technology lands into handsets and other devices that use single-cell Li-ion batteries. Check out the details after the break. Filed under: Cellphones , Misc , Mobile Comments

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Texas Instruments brings fast charging, extended life to Li-ion batteries

Oxford has a bell that’s been ringing for 173 years

A bell has been ringing at Oxford for nearly two hundred years. Because no one is willing to stop the bell, and the demonstration that it represents, no one knows the exact mechanism that’s making it ring. Learn of the mysteries of the Oxford Electric Bell. Read more…        

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Oxford has a bell that’s been ringing for 173 years

Tesla announces new service details, unconditional warranty for Model S battery

Tesla CEO Elon Musk talked a bit about his goals for expanded service options in his interview with us earlier this month, and he’s today detailed some of those options that the company is ready to roll out. That includes one perk that’s been mentioned previously: the ability to get a Model S loaner to tide you over when you have to turn your car in for service. What’s more, that loaner will be a top-of-the-line Model S regardless of the car you turn in (there’s a fleet of 85 to start with, each with valet service to your location), and customers in “most markets” can also opt to get a Tesla Roadster as a loaner if they’d prefer to try out something sportier. Musk further explains that customers can even choose to keep that loaner car if they like it better, and simply pay the difference. Beyond that, Tesla is now making annual checkups entirely optional, meaning that your warranty will still be valid for the full term even if you never take your car in. And rounding things out is what Tesla describes as an “unconditional warranty” on Model S batteries, which will let owners get a factory reconditioned unit as a replacement even in the case of user error. You can find the full details on the new options in Musk’s blog post announcing the news linked below. Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: Tesla

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Tesla announces new service details, unconditional warranty for Model S battery

Tiny lithium-ion battery recharges 1000x faster than rival tech, could shrink mobile devices

Supercapacitors are often hailed as the holy grail of power supplies, but a group of researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a lithium-ion microbattery that leaves that prized solution in the dust, recharging 1,000 times faster than competing tech. Previous work done by Professor William P. King, who led the current effort, resulted in a fast-charging cathode with a 3D microstructure, and now the team has achieved a breakthrough by pairing it with an anode devised in a similar fashion. The resulting battery is said to be the most powerful in the world, avoiding the usual trade-off between longevity and power while having a footprint of just a few millimeters. By altering its composition, scientists can even optimize the contraption for more juice or increased life. It’s expected that the technology could make devices 30 times smaller and help broadcast radio signals up to 30 times farther, but it’ll still be a while before it winds up in a super-slim phone within your pocket. For now, the researchers have their sights set on integrating the tech with other electronic components and investigating low-cost manufacturing. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Eureka Alert Source: University of Illinois News Bureau

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Tiny lithium-ion battery recharges 1000x faster than rival tech, could shrink mobile devices

USC battery wields silicon nanowires to hold triple the energy, charge in 10 minutes

There’s no shortage of attempts to build a better battery , usually with a few caveats. USC may have ticked all the right checkboxes with its latest discovery, however. Its use of porous, flexible silicon nanowires for the anodes in a lithium-ion battery delivers the high capacity, fast recharging and low costs that come with silicon, but without the fragility of earlier attempts relying on simpler silicon plates. In practice, the battery could deliver the best of all worlds. Triple the capacity of today’s batteries? Full recharges in 10 minutes? More than 2,000 charging cycles? Check. It all sounds a bit fantastical, but USC does see real-world use on the horizon. Researchers estimate that there should be products with silicon-equipped lithium-ion packs inside of two to three years, which isn’t long to wait if the invention saves us from constantly hunting for the nearest wall outlet. Filed under: Science Comments Via: Gizmodo Source: USC

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USC battery wields silicon nanowires to hold triple the energy, charge in 10 minutes