Battery technology - The weakest link in the digital ecosystem

Processor and memory technologies change exponentially over the years, but rechargeable battery technology has remained virtually unchanged for more than 20 years. And this has no hope of improving soon.

If some company owns a new, safe, affordable, stable, reliable battery and long-time use for digital devices, the company must be rich. In the electronic devices we use every day - especially smartphones and laptops - batteries are the key and also the weakest link in this ecosystem.

Many people can't even use smartphones or laptops for a whole day. Some others may, but are full of worries. Most people will have to always carry electrical equipment on their side, either a charger or an extra battery, to charge their slim iPhone or Galaxy.

Except for the monochrome screen reader, basic usage functions such as Amazon Kindle, there are almost no digital devices that actually have long usage time.

Time of the "supermodel".

While smartphone features, speed, and flexibility are progressing very fast, battery life increases a lot slower. For example, last year, when Apple introduced the A8 processor on the iPhone 6, the company proudly announced that CPU speed increased by 50 times and GPU increased by 84 times, compared to the first version introduced in 2007. (Apple said its latest chip, A9 on iPhone 6S, is 70% faster on task handling and GPU 90% faster than A8).

However, the life time of the device does not increase at such a rapid rate. The first iPhone version was announced by Apple for 8 hours and 6 hours of continuous talk time using the internet. With the iPhone 6S version, Apple announced the continuous talk time of 14h and 11h using the internet. Ie almost doubled compared to the first version.

Of course, optimists can see the difference in time between these two versions and feel that the iPhone (and other competitors) today is great, when it comes to longer battery life. , stronger and more, compared to their ancestors. But the parameters for comparison of battery life were no longer accurate, when the concept of talk time and the meaning of "internet usage" changed dramatically since 2007.

A technology since 1991

So far, there are still many devices that use the first commercially available Lithium-ion battery variants by Sony in 1991. Of course, that type of battery has improved, but most of the battery life has increased. Up to from design around battery usage, using hardware and software more efficiently.

Lithium battery - Ion introduced by Sony since 1991.

Currently, there is no better new battery that can completely replace the Lithium - Ion battery on these devices. And experts say you should not expect it to come soon."Lithium batteries - Ion will remain dominant" for at least the next few years, said Dr. Jay Whitacre, battery specialist at Carnergie - Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He added, "Current solutions will not help companies increase battery life."

"What must happen is," Whitacre said, "we have to imagine how to use new materials" inside the battery. And while researchers are actually experimenting with new materials, no one has succeeded in making a design that is commercially viable, significantly improving battery life for smartphones and laptops. . At least from what we know, there's no new battery technology, allowing us to use our device within a week, to appear soon.

The problem is that improving battery efficiency is completely unlike the way semiconductor manufacturing companies are doing, just by placing more and more transistors on an increasingly small area, to increase processing power. The battery problem is entirely physical and basic chemistry."You can look at the periodic table and see the limited number of materials you can study , " said Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot in Israel, to study battery problems. smartphone There is no Moore's Law for the battery field, or according to a technology director when talking about this issue: "There will be no breakthroughs that appear so often."

That means the battery life will still be a pain that users must accept, especially in areas where the phone is weak or frequently interrupted, due to the constant search for power sources. The phone will drain the battery tremendously. Companies may find it more difficult to introduce new features and improvements if this reduces the device's life. New, exciting technologies like virtual reality or artificial intelligence will be inhibited if battery life does not improve better.

Psychological changes in use

Recognizing the problem of having a breakthrough in battery life, instead of the usual way, some companies are focusing on solving the problem in another direction: significantly reducing the time it takes to charge the device. . The idea is to change the psychology of consumers. Battery worries can be reduced if users believe they can fully charge the device for a short charge.

For example, Samsung, which is selling fast chargers for $ 40 for their new devices, the charger can charge devices from 0 to 50% within 30 minutes. Apple's new touch pen for iPad Pro, can be plugged into the iPad Pro within 15 seconds for an additional 30 minutes before it expires. Qualcomm also launched Quick Charge technology on its processor and chipset. According to the company, the latest version can charge with compatible devices four times faster than normal charging.

StoreDot's charging performance.

But perhaps the most significant effort was made by the above company, Israel's StoreDot. The company claims to have redesigned both batteries and chargers, with new "organic" materials to create a system that can charge a typical device in just a few minutes, enough to last a day. work as usual.

In last year's CES consumer electronics fair, StoreDot demonstrated a sample product that can charge phones for 6 to 7 hours of use within a minute. The product, called the Flash Battery and Flash Charge , will be back at the CES next month, with a little change. According to CEO Doron Myesdorf, this time, the version that the company brings, is expected to give a smartphone within 8 to 10 hours within 5 minutes of charging. The differences this time are due to changes in the redesign of the charging port of the battery and the charger. Even so, five minutes is still a significant step forward when compared to the hour-long charging time for full battery life.

But StoreDot does not yet have a phone manufacturing partner for its battery and charging applications, and even if it does, such a new battery system will require a new production line, with requirements for cost and safety standards. Mr. Myersdorf admits that "this will take longer than we hope." Even so, the company hopes its products will be available on the market, as part of smartphones next year or early 2017.

The whole industry is stopping to solve the battery problem, one way or another. But the solution to this problem probably won't come soon.