I would talk to you about a sketchable and flexible battery developed by some universities. It’s the first sketchable battery but not the first flexible.
The first one is a battery created by a research team in South Korea (the picture below)
The researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois created the first sketchable battery with many cells of Li-ion wiring by zigzag wire.
The use of this battery could power the wearable devices. The skinnable battery can be wearable like a patch. It’s already existed for transdermal drug delivery with a flexible battery.
I find a video where we can see the sketchable capacity of the battery:
There are two main packaging methods in the production of Lithium batteries: Rolling and Stacking. We will explore both methods in this article.
1. Rolling/Winding
Rolled cells are also known as winding cells or jelly rolls. Rolling was the first method introduced in producing Lithium batteries. This method has been used for a long time in the production of NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) and LiPo (Lithium-ion Polymer) batteries. In this method, long layers of material are stacked and rolled.
This method allows for a high level of efficiency and consistency in the turnout of the product.
Some disadvantages include a low space utilization caused by the fixed cylindrical shape and temperature distribution caused by poor radial thermal conductivity. The number of cycles also cannot be too large; generally, one 1650 battery will have 20 cycles. Due to this, the capacity is small, and a large number of cells must be packed into the battery modules for electric vehicles.
Although the Cylindrical Rolling method appears simple, the internal design is anything but. Its complex design requires symmetry between the contact between the positive and negative electrodes, heat distribution, and the production machinery.
Let us explore two examples of batteries that are produced with this method:
The image above includes the internal dimensions in mm of a 18650 battery. The length of the electrodes between the cathode and anode nearly comes out to 1.5 meters when laid out while the width of the tabs comes out to only 4mm.
In order to reduce the uneven current and temperature distribution, engineers must carefully consider how they will arrange the tabs and electrode coatings.
(Reference: Waldmann et al., JES 161 (10) A1742, 2014)
The image above reflects warping, which occurs due to the inconsistent volume changes of the electrode layers. This is one of the reasons that cause the aging failure of batteries produced under a winding method.
The images below show the magnified electrode shapes of 18650 batteries under CT after storage, low-rate cycling, and high-rate cycling. Warping can be seen in the first image, labeled a). The second image, labeled b), shows how a pin is added in the middle to suppress the deformation of the core.
(Reference: Waldmann et al., JES 161 (10) A1742, 2014)
Although beneficial, the pins increase the weight of the battery and production costs.
2. Rectangular Stacking (Pouch Cells)
Pouch cells are created by stacking multiple electrode sheets on top of each other in what is known as the Stacking method.
There are many advantages to these pouch-shaped cells:
Due to the contact of the anode and cathode and its ratios allow for better heat dissipation.
The shape allows for higher efficiency and utilization in space, and they make modules and battery packs easy to form. Our batteries are more customizable, and we have ultra-thin batteries that can be around 0.4mm in thickness.
The distribution of current density is uniform as each electrode layer has a flange and tabs welded together.
There is one disadvantage to this method:
The pouch layer is so thin that the pouch itself is semi-conductive. This thus results in positive pouch corrosion when utilized inside devices. A simple solution to this is to wrap the cell in Kapton tape.
(NASA, Li-ion Pouch Cell Designs: Performance and Issues for Crewed Vehicle Applications)
In summary, in order to compare the advantages and disadvantages of various types, we need to analyze from many angles such as thermal, mechanical, and reliability, not just the traditional electrochemical characteristics. That’s the packaging methods in the production of lithium batteries.
If you are interested in lithium battery, please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time! Grepow Website: https://www.grepow.com/
Temperatures around the US vary, but there are many areas where it is still cold and snowing. You may have noticed that when you use your mobile device outdoors on a cold day, the battery power may have dropped quickly; in some cases, the phone may have even turned off.
In this article, we will address whether the lithium battery in mobile devices consumes more power in lower temperatures, and we will explore low-temperature battery options.
An Experiment: A battery indoors
In order to come to an answer, let us explore an experiment where there are three mobile devices from different brands. These phones would be charged to 100% then unplugged and left with their screens on for two hours straight. All three phones would run the same programs to ensure similar power consumption, and the indoor temperature would remain at 21°C/69.8°F. After 20 minutes, we will most likely find the batteries of all the phones still at 100%.
An Experiment: A battery outdoors
Now, in a separate experiment, we would have three phones from different brands, and, similar to the previous experiment, these devices would be charged to 100% then unplugged and left on for two hours while running the same apps. However, this time, the phones would be taken outdoors near the snow where the temperature would be 3°C/37.4°F. After 20 minutes, we will likely see a different number representing the batteries’ status.
Just performing these two experiments would tell you that the batteries of mobile devices consume power at different speeds depending on the surrounding temperatures. After 20 minutes, the second experiment will show the batteries at around 97 or 95%.
Ordinary batteries at low temperatures
Most mobile devices for the general public use a Lithium-ion Polymer battery (LiPo battery). When the temperatures drop low in the winter, the chemical reactions of the electrolytes slow down and result in less current and a decrease in battery power.
In more extreme situations, the phone will automatically shut down. The decrease in power or auto shut down are both protective measures. The shut down itself differs by manufacturer: some phones will shut down at 0% while others will automatically shut down the temperatures drop too low.
Tips to use your phone in cold temperatures
When we are outdoors, there are some simple actions that you can take to prolong the use of a battery without having to charge it.
First, try not to expose your phone to low temperatures. Keep it in your pocket or in your bag where it can be enclosed away from the cold.
If a phone call comes in, use your earphones to answer it instead of bringing your phone out.
If your phone is turned off outside, wait until you warm up before restarting it when you’re back indoors. You want the battery to acclimatize to the temperatures indoors.
More simply, place a protective shell around the phone.
You can also choose to use a professional low-temperature battery that can be used normally even in low temperatures.
Grepow can actually help you with that. We have low-temperature LiPo batteries that can operate in a temperature range of -50°C/-58°F to 50°C/122°F. They can discharge at over 60% efficiency with 0.2C and -30°C/-22°F. When charged at 20°C/68°F to 30°C/86°F by 0.2C, the capacity can be maintained above 85% after 300 cycles. These batteries can be ready for mass production, and they have been widely used in cold climates and military products.
These low-temperature batteries are specially developed by Grepow in order to overcome the defects inherent in batteries when they are exposed to lower temperatures. Our low-temperature batteries are manufactured with an innovative concept design, advanced formulas, and rigorous manufacturing process and method.
Keep an eye out for Grepow’s official blog, where we regularly update industry-related articles to keep you up-to-date on the battery industry.
A power source for wearable products must meet many requirements. Its charge and discharge circuit design must meet the technical specifications for manufacturability, EMC, EMI, and other certifications. The wearable battery must also require a certain level of cost advantage, quality, and technology. These many requirements make lithium batteries appealing as a power source, which is why they are widely used in wearable products.
A lithium-ion (Li-ion) polymer battery has a power supply voltage of about 3.7V. The lithium-containing oxide is used as the positive electrode, and the layered carbon is used to replace the metal lithium of the traditional lithium primary battery as the negative electrode.
There are so many advantages to using lithium batteries in wearable products. First, the output voltage ranges from 3V to 4.2V. Second, it has a wide operating temperature range of -20℃ to 60 ℃ and a charging temperature range of 0℃ to 50 ℃. Lithium batteries also have a long cycle life that can generally reach more than 500 cycles, even 1,000 cycles. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries can reach more than 2,000 times. Other benefits include no memory effect, low self-discharge rate during storage, and full-charge Li-ion storage at room temperature. After 1 month, the self-discharge rate can come out to about 5-10%.
These shapes can range anywhere from round to curved, which helps in the development of the numerous consumer electronics out today.
These benefits are a stark contrast to the lithium batteries that were used in mobile phones a year ago since they needed to be charged and discharged three times.
However, nothing’s perfect, and Li-ion batteries are no exception. There can be some weaknesses, such as poor compatibility with ordinary batteries; inconvenient replacement with ordinary, dry batteries; and swelling after repeated charging and discharging. The structural design must also reserve a certain amount of expansion space for the battery. There must be special protection circuits to prevent overcharge, over-discharge, and overcurrent as well.
There are further benefits to using lithium batteries as a power source:
In addition to adding protection circuits to prevent overcharge, over-discharge, and overload, Lithium polymer batteries have vent holes, which help in avoiding the destruction of cells. These vent holes are thin holes on the surface of the battery case. When a cell short circuits, a large amount of gas generates inside a battery in a short period of time. With the pressure rapidly increasing, there is a threat of explosion, but the vent holes prevent the internal pressure of a battery from rising too high, thus circumventing an explosion.
Furthermore, the separator inside a Lithium Polymer battery has high puncture resistance and prevents internal short circuits. On top of that, the separator will melt when the internal temperature of a battery rises too high, and it will prevent an explosion. When the internal temperature of a battery reaches above 130℃, the mesh pores of the separator will be closed to prevent the passage of Lithium ions and increase the internal resistance to 2kΩ, thereby protecting the battery. Once the air vent and diaphragm are activated, the battery will be permanently disabled.
A general Lithium battery’s circuit board will protect the battery from overcharge, over-discharge, and overload. Several key pins, such as the DO, CO, and VM, generate different levels in different situations. They control whether the N-channel MOS transistor is turned on or not, and they generate appropriate changes so that the battery is protected. There are also Lithium battery chips that form an integrated IC.
It is for these many reasons that Lithium batteries are commonly used in wearable products.
Learn more about batteries
Keep an eye out on Grepow’s official blog, where we regularly update industry-related articles to keep you up-to-date on the battery industry.
When it comes to GPS, everyone must be very familiar with it, but when it comes to GPS trackers, they will feel a little strange. Many people will think that I have mobile phone positioning is enough, GPS trackers are not useful. In fact, this is also because many people do not understand the GPS tracker device, so there is a certain limitation in the understanding of these aspects, so it is not practical to feel the use of the GPS tracker. Let ’s analyze with many people in which areas the GPS tracker can play a role and what are its uses?
1. Vehicle Leasing
Leased cars and car mortgage loans collectively refer to the field of vehicle leasing. So does the car GPS tracker cost electricity? Car GPS tracker is divided into two types: built-in battery and wiring. Among them, the connected GPS tracker can locate in real-time, grasp the vehicle position at any time, and view historical trajectories, issue various driving reports, etc., and are obtained in many industries such as business car management, private car anti-theft, loan car tracking, etc. It has been widely used. The battery level of the car GPS tracker depends on the power consumption and function of the tracker. Generally speaking, it will not affect the life of the car battery, and the owner can use it with confidence.
2. Logistics
Logistics transportation not only refers to the field of express transportation, but also covers cold chain transportation of fresh vegetables and fruits, cargo transportation and catering industry transportation, takeaway and so on. The logistics and transportation field requires high timeliness and fast delivery, but sometimes the superior and the customer cannot grasp the actual transportation status of the car. With the GPS tracker, the superior and the customer can immediately query the actual transportation status of the goods on the GPS platform and predict Arrival time of the goods.
3. Kids safety
The student wears an electronic student ID with GPS tracker function, which can deal with many problems such as difficulty in attending school, attendance at school, emergency out of control, etc., and protect the safety of the child in all aspects. Not only can you grasp your child’s arrival and departure status in real-time, but also know the child’s arrival and departure information. When students enter dangerous areas, such as dams, black Internet cafes, construction sites, etc., they must immediately give early warning so that parents can take immediate safety precautions.
4. Animal management
Animal management includes livestock such as cattle, sheep, horses, and pets such as cats and dogs. Let’s talk about animal husbandry first. Animal husbandry data can be collected based on GPS trackers. Herders can perform grazing management, positioning monitoring, and health status inquiry at any time and place according to the APP. Managers can avoid inbreeding according to the traceability system, which is conducive to eugenics and superior breeding, complete pasture supervision, and deal with grassland decline caused by overgrazing. Besides pets, there are more and more people who keep pets such as cats and dogs. It is inevitable that pets will be lost due to negligence, and pet GPS trackers can prevent risks well.
The above is the application of GPS tracker shared with you, there are other people who have not mentioned can share with us here. If you want to have a high quality and long life GPS battery, please contact us at info@grepow.com.
At present, most vehicle GPS on the market is powered by a built-in lithium battery, this power supply method is suitable for many portable digital products. Lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of stable discharge performance, high energy density, small size, and no memory effect.
Vehicle GPS as one of the main products using lithium batteries, in the daily use of GPS, many bad usage habits can cause fatal damage to lithium batteries in-vehicle GPS systems. Since lithium batteries have special requirements in terms of use and daily maintenance when using lithium batteries as a power supply method, we should pay attention to the following:
Many users are accustomed to plugging in the GPS charger when using vehicle GPS, the car's power supply will automatically charge the GPS batteries, so each time the GPS system is turned on or off is equivalent to charging and discharging the batteries, which will affect the battery life.
Since the main factor that affects the life and capacity of lithium batteries is the number of times the battery is charged and discharged, that’s why the GPS battery in vehicles has become less durable.
The correct use method is to charge the battery when the GPS power is low, and then disconnect the charger after the GPS is fully charged. It should be noted that the GPS battery would be at an over-discharged state by its self-discharge characteristics in case the GPS is not used for a long time. In order to prevent over-discharge, the GPS battery should be charged periodically every month.
The battery capacity of the newly purchased GPS is only 50% or lower, and it can be used normally for the first time. When the battery capacity is insufficient, it should be charged normally according to the instructions of the manual. It is best to use the original charger for charging.
In addition, there are several points to be noted during the use of GPS:
Don’t over-charge and over-discharge the GPS battery. Charging normally when the battery capacity is low, which will not damage the lithium battery.
Use the original charger for charging, don’t use a third-party charger.
Most car GPS lithium batteries are built-in, don’t disassemble or modify the battery without permission.
Avoid exposing the product to extreme environments and protect the battery from liquid corrosion.
In fact, the reasonable and correct use of lithium batteries, and proper maintenance, vehicle GPS service life will be extended according to the battery life.
If you are interested in GPS BATTERY, want to learn more about different GPS battery information, please contact the Grepow office at info@grepow.com. More information can be found at https://www.grepow.com/
