Gizmodo
Wired has a long long piece by John Hockenberry that covers thermal runaway, the thing that makes all those Sony Batteries explode.
It occurs when the touchy elements inside a Li-ion battery heat up to the point where the internal reaction accelerates, creating even more heat. In the case of a laptop flameout, the chemicals break out of their metal casing. Because lithium ignites when it makes contact with the moisture in the air, the battery bursts into flame.Another fun fact from ther article is that "In the last 150 years, battery performance has improved only about eightfold (or less, depending how it's measured). The speed and capacity of silicon chips, of course, improves that much every six years."
But the best part is the info graphic sidebar that tell us that the future of the laptop battery involves multiple cells custom built for each component. Graphic of the futuristic after the jump...
The piece is long&mdash and surprisingly technical when it comes to explaining how batteries work. But man, I couldn't sit through it. On one hand, its nice to see Wired get back to its geek roots after a period where it just seemed like it was tech newbie-ish. On the other hand, the feature gets into a depth that even Popsci wouldn't attempt. Hardcore stuff.
Building a Better Battery [Wired]
Comments
Not a bad idea but how much would one of those run you?
ahh lithium http://www.webmd.com/content/article/102/106790.htm
Hehe - it says power jack.
arent all cellphone batteries Li-ion these days or just about any portable electronic device
personally i think we should stick as many explodable batteries in a laptop as possible.
This would suck unless they were user replaceable. It sounds like a bunch of iPods stuck together and no way to change any of the batteries, what if the LCD battery goes on you, or one of the other components. Sometimes the simple soulution (one battery) is the best.
This, by the way, would equal consumer rape come time to replace any or all the "as many as 1,000 batteries"
I wouldnt mind spending an extra couple hundred bucks on carbon fiber housing for the battery (not the battery itself, the part of the laptop where it touches the battery. That way, if it begins to ignite, the carbon fiber casing would protect the HDD (and the user) and fricking PWN the table its on.
in conjunction with the upgrades in battery application, it would be more interesting to think of the advancement of each component as well. a reliable static memory drive (as opposed to the conventional HD), OLED screens, etc. components that also require less power usage in general will also affect how batteries are implemented.
Daftrok, tell me if i'm wrong, but doesn't carbon fiber, being made of carbon (like wood) and plastic resin/epoxy (petrol derivates) burn???
If this turns out to be a repost, please excuse me.
So... daftrok, wouldnt carbon fiber burn well, seeing as it's carbon (like wood) and plastic/epoxy resin?
I think that what Daftrok was thinking off was fiberglass.
While interesting, the 1000-distributed-battery solution is Asinine. If a Li-on has 2 years in it, then your entire distributed sys of 1k batteries in 10+? locations must be replaced every 2y; Display, HDs, Vidcards, Coms, etc. -Esp, since Li-ons eat their own anodes (eww! -like a doberman??!) at a predictable rate.
-As Geisrud says: "Consumer Rape" ->And you know some Ballmer-esque corporate sleazeball is going to make 1 or more of those locations non-replaceable.
Where's Joe Schumpeter at? -We need the next invention leap. Virus-deployed nano-structure Lithium-Plutonium cells that last 50 years.
I can explain in laymans terms more about the cause of these Sony battery problems. It seems the lithium and ions in these batteries can leak together in an ionictosis reaction and produce the element Explodium.
Contrary to it's name, Explodium is usually quite stable, except when exposed to the same temperature that human genitals produce on a crowded airplane.
Citizen - first off, wood isn't made of carbon, it's cellulose. Carbon is basically the end result of certain chemical reactions (like fire), and is VERY difficult to get it to burn /ignite.
Nope - it doesn't look as if Wired's "geek roots" have been regained, to me. The first page was pretty good, but the first paragraph of the second page cheerfully recounted the completely wrong urban myth about "memory effect".
Well, OK, not exactly. Instead of the usual version (which says you have to fully cycle NiCd batteries a lot to avoid the dread Effect; all this actually does is wear them out), this article says "If users didn't fully charge the batteries on initial use, the cells could "remember" only their original partial charge."
Which is a whole new piece of bullshit.
Excelsior, Wired!
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?