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Doubling battery power of consumer electronics
New lithium metal batteries could make smartphones, drones,
and electric cars last twice as long.
An MIT spinout is preparing to commercialize a novel rechargable
lithium metal battery that offers double the energy capacity of
the lithium ion batteries that power many of today’s consumer
electronics.
Founded in 2012 by MIT alumnus and former postdoc Qichao Hu
’07, SolidEnergy Systems has developed an “anode-free” lithium
metal battery with several material advances that make it twice
as energy-dense, yet just as safe and long-lasting as the lithium
ion batteries used in smartphones, electric cars, wearables,
drones, and other devices.
“With two-times the energy density, we can make a battery half
the size, but that still lasts the same amount of time, as a lithium
ion battery. Or we can make a battery the same size as a lithium
ion battery, but now it will last twice as long,” says Hu, who
co-invented the battery at MIT and is now CEO of SolidEnergy.
The battery essentially swaps out a common battery anode
techniques. The sensor head,
which connects to the test point,
has complete electrical isolation and is
powered over one of the optical fibers.
Ten patent applications have been filed
for this ground breaking technology.
A critical advantage this technology offers
for designers, such as those working on
power devices involving GaN and SiC
technologies, is superior common mode
rejection that makes signals previously
buried in common mode noise visible
for the first time. IsoVu offers 1 Million:1
(120 dB) common mode rejection
(CMRR) up to 100 MHz and 10,000:1
(80 dB) CMRR at 1 GHz. By comparison,
competitive solutions at 100 MHz offer approximately 20 dB
CMRR at 100 MHz, making IsoVu 100,000 times better.
“The feedback we received from designers at APEC was
overwhelmingly positive, with many of them facing a critical
need for the design insights IsoVu now makes possible,”
said Chris Witt, general manager, Time Domain Business
Unit, Tektronix. “Currently there is no measurement system
on the market with IsoVu’s combination of high bandwidth,
material, graphite, for very thin, high-energy lithium-metal
foil, which can hold more ions - and, therefore, provide more
energy capacity. Chemical modifications to the electrolyte also
make the typically short-lived and volatile lithium metal batteries
rechargeable and safer to use. Moreover, the batteries are made
using existing lithium ion manufacturing equipment, which
makes them scalable.
In October 2015, SolidEnergy demonstrated the first-ever
working prototype of a rechargeable lithium metal smartphone
battery with double energy density, which earned them more
than $12 million from investors. At half the size of the lithium ion
battery used in an iPhone 6, it offers 2.0 amp hours, compared
with the lithium ion battery’s 1.8 amp hours.
SolidEnergy plans to bring the batteries to smartphones and
wearables in early 2017, and to electric cars in 2018. But the
first application will be drones, coming this November. “Several
customers are using drones and balloons to provide free Internet
to the developing world, and to survey for disaster relief,”
2000V common mode voltage range and
breakthrough common mode rejection
ratio.”
Using IsoVu, engineers can accurately
measure small differential signals (5 mV
– 50 V) in the presence of large common
mode voltages from DC to 1 GHz. IsoVu is
the first signal acquisition product where
the common mode voltage capability
does not de-rate over bandwidth. IsoVu
technology is available in 6 models of
the TIVM Series Isolated Measurement
Systems with 200 MHz, 500 MHz and 1
GHz bandwidth configurations with either 3-meter or 10-meter
fiber optic cable lengths. The 10-meter cable option offers
the same performance specifications as the 3-meter option
and allows users to move their test system away from the
interference and radiated emissions of the device under test.
With this option, IsoVu is well-suited for such applications as
remote testing and EMI validation.
16 l New-Tech Magazine Europe