| I can picture it now. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader | | | | video cameras, to lithium rechargeables for current |
| face off for an epic light-saber battle to the death! The | | | | electronics, including MP3 players, camcorders, and |
| fate of the world hangs in the balance! | | | | Blackberries, the digital demands keep multiplying. In |
| Then their light-saber batteries run out of juice so | | | | fact digital calculations themselves require steady |
| they're left holding onto a couple of limp licorice sticks, | | | | voltage to maintain memory, and power fluctuations |
| resulting in a leg-wrestling extravaganza. Yoda | | | | can be catastrophic for the device functionality. |
| wouldn't stand a chance. Not quite what George | | | | Backlit screens, hard drive demands, and graphics |
| Lucas had in mind for the ultimate Star Wars battle | | | | needs are mounting the pressure on the development |
| scene. | | | | of power sources. At the same time, the thermal |
| With all of the tremendous advances that are taking | | | | runaway risk must be managed which tends to create |
| place in our world of internet and wireless existence, a | | | | wasted resources within the battery, and batteries that |
| person may never consider that the 'holy grail' is in the | | | | destroy themselves before they ignite. |
| field of battery life. You might have thought that it | | | | The war rages for alternatives. The venture capitalists |
| would be the next generation of wireless devices that | | | | are betting big in a number of areas. They are driven |
| allow you to project holographic images of the Google | | | | by the demand for laptops with dual processors and |
| screen so that you can do web searches in mid-air in | | | | eight-hour run times. They are driven by our consumer |
| the airport. Yep, it's true - it's in the works! The | | | | demands that we have wireless devices on our hip |
| restricting problem is that little-considered power | | | | that store and play music - 1000 songs at a time, guide |
| source we simply take for granted. The simple battery. | | | | us over highways, and send attachments via email. |
| It has been confounding for a century now. | | | | Actually, the device should be in your pocket and not |
| Thomas Edison said, "I don't think that nature would be | | | | on your hip unless you're a nerd according to |
| so unkind as to withhold the secret of a good storage | | | | insinuations by Kevin Sintumuang, associate editor for |
| battery if a real earnest hunt for it is made. I'm going to | | | | GQ. |
| hunt." That was more than a hundred years ago and | | | | Among the warring factions for battery supremacy |
| the foxes are still out. In fact the hunt is getting very | | | | are: |
| intense. | | | | 1) Lithium batteries with their own chip to manage |
| In a recent article in 'Wired', John Hockenberry states | | | | power resources |
| that, "In the last 150 years battery performance has | | | | 2) Fuel cells, which have always been challenged with |
| improved only about eightfold. The speed and capacity | | | | practical design. Proponent Rick Cooper feels that |
| of silicon chips, of course, improves that much every | | | | notebooks will have both a fuel cell and a lithium |
| six years." | | | | battery engineered into the next generation. |
| In curious irony, as I write this article on my laptop, on | | | | 3) Silver & zinc chemistry is also on the horizon. |
| an airplane, on my way to Charlotte, my battery has | | | | Backer, Ross Dueber, makes the point about current |
| declared bankruptcy and I now have to resort to my | | | | lithium alternatives; "It's the only rechargeable battery |
| back up power source - pen and paper. How | | | | technology that uses flammable liquid." |
| Neanderthal! My hand is actually aching because my | | | | 4) Lithium polymer uses an advanced gel to create a |
| fingers are apparently out of shape for these | | | | power source as thin as paper. Prototypes have been |
| callisthenic demands. I thought that my two-fingered | | | | designed to power a new breed of smart card. |
| typing was just as good as a Gold's membership for | | | | 5) Then there's Nanograss. It's not a Robin Williams |
| these types of events but I am woefully wrong. It's just | | | | football field, but it is a radical approach to power |
| another reason that better batteries are required - we | | | | supply. It allows cells to carry their own power and to |
| can't write anymore, opposable thumbs or not, - it's just | | | | turn on and off chemically. It provides for a solution |
| an evolutionary thing. | | | | where there are fields of tiny batteries as opposed to |
| It seems that our insatiable demand for self-powered | | | | a single power source. This one uses charges to |
| consumer electronics is driving the battery wars to | | | | effect the surface tension of fluids by basically making |
| new heights. Suffice it to say that the spoils of this war | | | | them appear and disappear (into the Nanograss, which |
| will far exceed the wampum that Edison received for | | | | is actually metal) depending on conductive |
| that light bulb thing. | | | | requirements. |
| As devices miniaturize in size, yet enrich in features, | | | | Regardless of who wins this war, the riches will be |
| the hapless battery is forced to produce more power | | | | great. And regardless of who wins this war, it seems |
| in less space. If battery capability stagnates, as history | | | | that re-design of electronic devices will be required to |
| has dictated so far, then portable device capability will | | | | allow for the new optimum power delivery system. |
| follow suit. Yet our demand, and the ability of | | | | That means it won't be overnight. |
| manufacturers to supply, indicates a burgeoning | | | | Now let's take the battery war to another level |
| market for wireless devices to make our lunch, tie our | | | | beyond electronic devices with a 'what if' scenario. |
| shoes, entertain us, and generally make our lives | | | | What if battery technology advanced to the level |
| dependent on such units. | | | | where a reliable, safe, and powerful field of such tiny |
| The problem is that all that functionality is dependent | | | | units became the source of power for our furnaces, |
| on the development of more efficient, more powerful, | | | | air conditioners, and cars? Not just cars that look like |
| and smaller power sources. Oh yeah, and safety | | | | you're driving a phone booth, but real cars - and SUVs. |
| seems to matter as well, as evidenced by the recent | | | | Wouldn't that just change the environment, both |
| spate of spontaneously combusting laptops caused by | | | | figuratively and literally? |
| the fire-starter known as the Li-ion battery. Thermal | | | | Let's just hope there is a winner in the battery war as |
| runaway is the name of the culprit, and it means that | | | | opposed to continuing stagnation. Let's hope that the |
| the chemicals in the battery break out of their metal | | | | hunt that began in earnest with Edison is rewarded |
| casing, which causes the lithium to ignite when it makes | | | | with success. Let's hope that new technologies, |
| contact with moisture in the air. | | | | dependant on battery capability, can continue to |
| Without getting technical, voltage and current are | | | | develop so we can sate our desire for electronic |
| created chemically to generate power through the | | | | nirvana. Otherwise we may be stuck in this backward |
| movement of electrons from pole to pole in the | | | | time where battery capability restricts our |
| battery. As we have progressed through lead acid for | | | | Columbus-like voyage of discovery of the electronic |
| car starters, to alkaline and mercury for transistor | | | | universe. |
| radios, to nickel and cadmium for the first laptops and | | | | |