The high interest in more economical energy storage these days yields a continual stream of news about advances in battery chemistry. Here are a couple recent developments of particular note: Capacitors with a high energy density — Capacitors generally have low energy densities relative to batteries or fuel cells. Researchers at the Dept. of Energy’s […]
Flow batteries – What’s ahead?
Flow batteries have emerged as a commercial alternative that makes economic sense for certain application profiles. Additional development is still needed for flow batteries to be a mainstream energy storage technology. There are probably hundreds of research efforts worldwide. The following is a sampling of key areas of focus for flow battery research and development. […]
Flow batteries – What can you use them for?
Flow batteries are suited for use in several application areas, including utility-scale energy storage, microgrids, renewables integration, backup power, and remote and off-grid power. Flow batteries are highly scalable, and their power and energy ratings can also be scaled independently. They have very little or no self-discharge current. Flow batteries have demonstrated cycle lives of […]
How do flow batteries work?
The heart of a flow battery is a specially designed regenerative fuel cell module. A conventional regenerative fuel cell operates on the basis of a reversible electrolysis electrochemical process and can be either an open system (where water can be added, and hydrogen and oxygen removed) or a closed system. These electrolysis-based regenerative fuel cells […]
Lithium-ion coin cells operate up to 105°C
NGK INSULATORS (hereinafter “NGK”) has raised the maximum operating temperature of its coin-type “EnerCera Coin” (part of the “EnerCera” series) battery up to 105°C. Sample shipments are currently underway, with mass production scheduled to begin in September 2020. In December 2019, NGK developed the world’s first lithium-ion rechargeable battery which has achieved an operating temperature […]
Rechargeable 100-µAh batteries come in pint-sized SMD format
TDK Corporation presents a new packing unit for CeraCharge, the world’s first SMD technology solid-state rechargeable battery, in the compact size EIA 1812 (4.4 x 3.0 x 1.1 mm3). The packing unit (B73180A0101M199) includes 10 blister-packed CeraCharge batteries which come in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag. The components are manufactured in regular series production and are […]
Panasonic unveils new lithium ion pin batteries for wearables
Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Co. of America recently announced a new addition to its line of lithium-ion pin cells for the wearables market. The Panasonic CG420A lithium-ion pin batteries have a spiral-wound construction that enables higher reliability and rapid charging (80% charged in 20 minutes), according to Panasonic. The company says the batteries, which are…
Applying large banks of supercapacitors
It pays to know techniques for mitigating leakage current and over- voltages in uses where several supercapacitors work in parallel. Michele Kinman Advanced Linear Devices Inc. In applications requiring rapid charge/discharge cycles or short-term energy storage, you’ll often find supercapacitors connected in series or parallel. However, there’s a potential problem when supercaps are wired together […]
Fuel cells put out 100 kW in land, sea applications
PowerCell Sweden AB has developed a new and improved version of its MS-100 fuel cell system which will be presented at the Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition in California on November 5th. The new MS-100 is 30 percent more compact and has improved operating life time as well as robustness for demanding applications on […]
Lithium-water rechargeable batteries said to be safer, more energy dense than lithium-ion
A new high-performance Lithium-water (Li-water) rechargeable battery technology has been developed for the energy storage and mobile device markets. According to co-developers Global Technology Systems, Inc. (GTS) and Dr. Boris Tsenter, the new Lithium-water technology will be safer, with longer run times and lower environmental impact than traditional Lithium-ion battery technology. The technology is expected […]