Panasonic releases more capacious, less explosive laptop battery
Can't overheat, apparently
Panasonic has begun mass-producing a lithium-ion battery for laptops that's rather more capacious charge-wise than current offerings.
The battery is built to the so-called "18650" form-factor, which is the standard size - 65mm in length, 18mm in diameter - for the cylindrical cells laptop power pack makers build into the box-like units notebook users will be familiar with.
Panasonic's offering has a capacity of 3.1Ah. Existing 18650 cells typically have a capacity of up to 2.9Ah, so that's a seven per cent increase in charge with no increase in the power cell's physical size.
Inside Panasonic's cell
The secret? The use of a positive electrode made of nickel, Panasonic said. But the battery also features an insulating metal oxide layer between cathode and anode which, the company claimed, "prevents the battery from overheating even if a short circuit occurs".
Bye-bye, boom-boom laptop batteries? We hope so. ®
COMMENTS
@Wayne
You would manage this in the electronics, no need to educate anyone, ever tried getting a phone bat below 2.2v? just wont let you.
@ Michael C
I think the main issue with LiPo at the moment is the electrical fragility of the cells, They hate regular full discharges (which let's be honest is a typical usage scenario for many devices including laptops), they hate being left in a discharge state and they are even more temperature sensitive (particularly whilst charging).
At this point I think you'd have to end up severely educating the general public to get anything close to say a 300 cycle life out of LiPo
Qs
1) is it the same weight or lighter?
2) does it cost the same or less?
3) by "not explode" clearly by design this does not indicate "won't burn", so it;s obviously still combustible and suffers from heat issues, they just found a way to allow that to dissipate without explosive force. Since Most LiIons that do combust don't acctually "explode" anyway, explain how this is in any way better than LiPo, which are far more difficult to cause to short and combust (as long as you use a LiPo aware charger, or have batteries that have charge limiting circuits, which almost all do).
4) why are we still investing in Li-Ion technology when others including LiPo, SCiB, Sulfer, and others show far more promise with better density, lower weight, lower cost, and are safer?
@Tim
Per standard-sized cell, you numpty.
(Although no details are given as to mass)
31Ah per what?
I assume this power relates to some volume or mass of battery?
