Batteries, Power Supplies, Fuel Cells

Lithium batteries get a boost from titanium oxide and algae

Some engineers are trained in the art of building things out of folding sheets of paper and metal into useful objects (origami). One design that came from this training was a solar panel

EcoloCap Solutions develops a battery based on carbon nanotubes

The Nanobattery from mPhase Technologies, Little Falls, N.J. (mphasetech.com), uses a concept that keeps the electrolyte from touching the electrodes until power is needed.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories must hate batteries: They heat them to extreme temperatures, overcharge them, drive nails into them, and generally do whatever they can to destroy them.

It’s often necessary to connect point-of- load (POL) dc/dc power supply modules in parallel to get a sufficiently high-current output for applications such as test instruments, blade servers, and so forth.

Many applications in automotive electronics need a supply voltage that remains uninterrupted during momentary power failures.

One of the primary goals when designing dc/dc conversion circuits is to get a high conversion efficiency.

Watertown, Mass.-based startup A123Systems thinks it has solved the problem of overheating in lithium-ion batteries.

Engineers at Yuasa Battery Inc., Laureldale, Pa., design and build batteries for motorcycles, snowmobiles, and ATVs, so customers regularly put them through some grinding abuse and temperature extremes.

Special solar cells have a combined efficiency of 42.8% when illuminated by sunlight at standard terrestrial conditions, say researchers with a University of Delaware-led consortium of industrial companies, national laboratories, and universities.

Engineers at Lillipution Systems, Cambridge, Mass., have borrowed technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lawrence Livermore National Labs to shrink a solid-oxide fuel cell so that it fits on an IC.