Bio-battery charges smartphones in 30 seconds!
- Thread starter gtone339
- 16 comments
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Though, it's nice if it actually gets out to all consumers, especially if it's to be included with newer phones.
- 12,893
- Divided States of America
- MikuHime80
Looks like an obnoxiously large back though. lol.
- 13,909
- Adelaide
- Neomone
My thought is the amount of heat generated in both the charger and the battery. That's probably going to be a serious problem as they try to scale down, you can't just throw that much current through small form factors without running into trouble with resistive heating.
Standard battery is I think 2100mA/h at 3.8V? With no losses that'd be pulling something like 4A out of a 240V standard wall socket for the thirty seconds to charge it, unless my math is totally wonky. Add in losses in the conversion to DC, and losses in cabling/internals of the battery, and it'll be more, and a lot of heat.
Cool idea, but they're not home and dry yet by a long shot.
Standard battery is I think 2100mA/h at 3.8V? With no losses that'd be pulling something like 4A out of a 240V standard wall socket for the thirty seconds to charge it, unless my math is totally wonky. Add in losses in the conversion to DC, and losses in cabling/internals of the battery, and it'll be more, and a lot of heat.
Cool idea, but they're not home and dry yet by a long shot.
- 5,080
- Panama City, FL
Well, Googling them leads to an article this video is part of, in which it is explained that the big black box on the back of the phone IS the battery, using a new technology that can accept super-fast charging. Currently it doesn't actually fit inside the phone and has a lower charge capacity than the original lithium-ion.
Research continues, and they hope to get capacity up to the level phone users expect. But..... if this fast-charge technology can be extended to battery packs big enough to run electric cars (and if cables big enough for that current load can actually be made flexible enough to roll out to the driveway....) this would solve a lot of issues with the acceptance of those with more consumers. I mean, nobody wants a car that has to sit plugged in overnight to get a 60-mile range. What if you could actually pull into a station and charge it in 5, 10, or 15 minutes, then drive for 2 hours? That's kinda what we already do!
It brings to mind Sam Clemens's electric riverboat in the Riverwold novels by Philip José Farmer. It was powered by a "batacitor," a device that was charged instantly by the equivalent of a lightning bolt's energy, and could release its power over time like an ordinary battery. Kind of "old" books, 1971-ish.
Research continues, and they hope to get capacity up to the level phone users expect. But..... if this fast-charge technology can be extended to battery packs big enough to run electric cars (and if cables big enough for that current load can actually be made flexible enough to roll out to the driveway....) this would solve a lot of issues with the acceptance of those with more consumers. I mean, nobody wants a car that has to sit plugged in overnight to get a 60-mile range. What if you could actually pull into a station and charge it in 5, 10, or 15 minutes, then drive for 2 hours? That's kinda what we already do!
It brings to mind Sam Clemens's electric riverboat in the Riverwold novels by Philip José Farmer. It was powered by a "batacitor," a device that was charged instantly by the equivalent of a lightning bolt's energy, and could release its power over time like an ordinary battery. Kind of "old" books, 1971-ish.
BobK
Premium
- 7,020
- Massachusetts, USA
Here's the issue with very rapid charging: the enormous currents required. Let's say you have a 2000maH battery, which is pretty close to what the average smartphone uses. That's capable of delivering 2000 milliamps, or 2 amps if you prefer, per hour. To recharge that puppy in a minute will require a whopping 120 amps. That is a lot of current. You're talking car battery jumper cables to handle that kind of current. Not to mention a very heavy, expensive power source to deliver that 120 amps. Admittedly you could charge up a big capacitor over an hour's time or so and use that to do the actual charging of the battery, but you still need the heavy cables. Let's not forget you also need connectors that can handle that kind of current; such connectors are necessarily big (and expensive).
And all those numbers above are assuming 100% efficiency at every step in the process. So real world numbers would be even higher.
And all those numbers above are assuming 100% efficiency at every step in the process. So real world numbers would be even higher.
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- Cy-Fi
Keep in mind that most newly constructed houses have a 200A main service for the entire building. Older homes, like my parent's, have a 100A service. Hell. Doing electrical design for hotels for a few years, a 120 unit hotel only had an 800-1200A service!
A single device pulling over 100A isn't going to end well...
BobK
Premium
- 7,020
- Massachusetts, USA
Actually that may not be that bad of a problem. The battery is 3.7 volts, so let's assume a charging voltage of five volts (which by no coincidence is what a USB charger delivers). A transformer with a 120 amp output at five volts would have an input current of five amps at 120 volts. That's in the same ballpark as hair dryers, toaster ovens, and that kind of thing. However that's also assuming 100 percent efficiency again, so the actual current would be higher. I also suspect the charging voltage may be considerably higher than five volts to achieve those kinds of charging rates, which would necessitate correspondingly higher transformer input currents. So yeah, that just may be another consideration; can the house wiring support it.
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- Tijuana, B.C.
- MRT_Cinnamon
Too much current, how many amperes does it take to hurt (or kill) a human? 1 point something?
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- neema_t
BobK
Premium
- 7,020
- Massachusetts, USA
It's the current that kills you, but you need the voltage to push enough current to do it. Note that when he's holding the wires on his tongue the current doesn't even register on the ammeter. This is also why those things that charge your body to 50,000 volts and make your hair stand on end don't kill you; they can only push a couple microamps if that.
