Posted by
topbattery on Thursday, July 31, 2008 4:08:50 AM
The speed at which portability and mobility is advancing hinges much
on the battery. So important is this energy source that engineers
design handheld devices around the battery, rather than the other way
around. With each incremental improvement of the battery, the doors
swing open for new products and enhanced applications. It is the virtue
of the battery that provides us with the freedom of being disconnected
from home and office. The better the battery gets, the greater our
mobility and freedom will become.
The improved runtime of new
portable devices is not credited to higher energy-dense batteries
alone. Much improvement has been made in reducing the power consumption
of portable devices. Some of these advancements are, however,
counteracted with the demand for faster processing time of laptop
computers and quicker data transmission of cellular phones.
The
electric vehicle has failed to become the accepted mode of
transportation because of the battery. Short distances between
recharging and a limited service life of the battery are to blame.
Consumers demand a battery that will last for the life of the vehicle
but battery manufactures are hesitant to provide the mandatory 8 to
10-year warranty.
Battery research is proceeding at a steady
pace. The average annual gain in capacity is typically 6%. In
comparison, microelectronics has done much better
Gordon Moore
made his famous observation in 1965 when he predicted that the growth
in the number of transistors per integrated circuit would double every
two years. Through Intel's relentless technological advances, Moore's
Law has been maintained and is being carried into the 21st century.
Such advances would shrink a heavy-duty car battery to size of a coin,
had this been possible for batteries.
Will the fuel cell replace the battery?
More
than 2,000 organizations throughout the world are actively involved in
fuel cell development. There is a good reason for this - it's a great
concept. And yet, since its invention in 1839 by Sir William Grove, the
fuel cell has made little impact in our daily lives so far. In
comparison, the internal combustion engine, a development that began at
about the same time as the fuel cell, has far broader use.
The
fuel cell was used in the Gemini space program in the 1960s, followed
by trial runs in buses and cars during the 1990s. One of the main
obstacles is high energy cost. The cost-per-watt. must be reduced by a
factor of ten to become competitive with other sources, such as the
internal combustion engine.
The improvements of the fuel cell
during the last 10 years have been moderate. Attempts to mass-produce
have failed, even though four public fuel cell companies in North
America have raised over a billion dollars in public stock offerings
from 1999 through 2001. Unlike other investments that paid early
dividends from product sale, returns on fuel cell lies years ahead.
Today, 45% of the money raised by the four fuel cell companies is lost.
Fuel
cell advocates are promoting a technology that is intended to replace
the battery but the opposite is occurring in mobile and portable
applications. The fuel cell has a defined power band in which it
operates efficiently. Outside this band, the fuel cell loses
effectiveness. Sluggish start-up when cold and limited loading are
other limitations. Until resolved, the fuel cell will serve as the
generator to charge the batteries that do the driving.
There are
also problems with the longevity of the stack. The membranes, the core
of the engine, degenerate too quickly. The replacement of the stack is
a major expense. Until these problems can be resolved, the fuel cell
will be reserved for specialty applications, such as providing power
(and water) for space vehicles and submarines. Here, no combustion is
possible and toxic exhausts cannot be tolerated.
Experts believe
that the fuel cell, as we know it today, would only be implemented in
vehicles if the supply of fossil fuel is exhausted or if mandated by
law due to environmental concerns. Comments have been made that the
fuel cell may never become the engine of choice for mass-produced cars.
This is in line with the notion that the steam engine of the 1800s was
never intended to propel airplanes.
Continuous improvements in
the fuel cell are being made but the results are slower than with other
technologies. Eventually, the fuel cell will find important niche
markets that dwell outside the domain of the polluting internal
combustion engine. Should a major break-through occur and the fuel cell
does become an alternative power source, the world would become a
cleaner place and humanity would be thankful for it.
What is the ultimate miracle battery?
The
ultimate miracle battery is nowhere in sight and the battery remains
the 'weak link' for the foreseeable future. As long as the battery is
based on an electro-chemical process, limitations of power density and
short life expectancy must be taken into account. We must adapt to this
constraint and design the equipment around it.
People want an
inexhaustible pool of energy in a small package that is cheap, safe and
clean. A radical turn will be needed to satisfy the unquenchable thirst
for portable and mobile power. It is anyone's guess whether a superior
electro-chemical battery, an improved fuel cell, a futuristic atomic
fusion battery or some other groundbreaking energy storage device will
fulfill this dream. For many, this break will not come in ones lifetime.