According to this report, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s national research organization has applied for 29 patents in the United States, Taiwan, Korea, China and Japan for a new technology to prevent lithium-ion batteries from catching fire or exploding.

This problem is seen by many a reason not to use the technology in electric vehicles, for example.

Apparently, from 2003 to 2005 more than 300 incidents occurred involving lithium-ion laptop and cell-phone batteries overheating or catching fire. Many of the incidents involved personal injury.

This potential problem with lithium-ion batteries is multiplied by the thousands in vehicles. In the case of Tesla Motors’ car, for example, almost 7,000 batteries are packed behind the passenger compartment to power the car.

When lithium-ion batteries develop internal shorts they can quickly heat up to as much as 500 degrees centigrade (932 degrees Fahrenheit) and catch fire or explode.

The invention sits between the positive and negative sides of the battery and when the battery hits 130 degrees centigrade (266 degrees Fahrenheit), it transforms from a porous material to a film and shuts down the reaction.

Justin Blows

Olá pessoal!

Estou aqui para o primeiro post sério da história desse blog hauhauhuahua. Droga, eu ri, não podia ter rido. Vamos lá!

Ganhei um celular novo e daí fui ler o manual né? Queria saber qual o tempo exato que tem deixar carregando antes da primeira utilização. Primeiramente, porque cada um diz uma coisa. Uns dizem que tem que ser uma carga de 24h, outros dizem duas cargas de 8h a 12h cada. Segundo, porque ao plugar o carregador na tomada, notei que a bateria já veio com uma carga quase completa (das cinco barrinhas, quatro já estavam cheias). Como achei tudo isso estranho, resolvi pesquisar na Internet. E não é que descobri coisas interessantíssimas? Talvez quem esteja lendo isso aqui já saiba, mas como eu não sabia, resolvi postar caso algum desavisado tenha as mesmas dúvidas que eu.

Uma das coisas que descobri é que existem muitas lendas envolvendo baterias de celular, lendas estas que são resquícios da época da explosão do uso de celulares no Brasil. Na época, os celulares vinham acompanhados de baterias de níquel cádmio (NiCd), que precisavam de uma carga inicial de 24 horas. Essa carga inicial tinha o propósito de “acostumar” os separadores responsáveis por impedir a mistura do níquel e do cádmio. É algo assim, infelizmente não consegui encontrar a referência que eu tinha usado novamente. Se alguém souber a explicação correta, depois comenta aí que eu atualizo. Bom, além disso, essas baterias sofriam de um mal conhecido como efeito memória. O que é isso? Digamos que a sua bateria ainda possui 20% de carga sobrando. Você decide recarregá-la. No momento em que você começa o processo de carregamento, a bateria vai considerar que está em 0%, apesar de não estar. Portanto, ela vai recarregar apenas 80%, quando na verdade deveria recarregar 100%. Isso é o que chamamos de “bateria viciada”. Por isso, esse tipo de bateria exige que se deixe-a descarregar completamente antes de poder carregá-la novamente para que não ocorra o efeito memória.

A questão é que a tecnologia evoluiu, e hoje em dia os novos celulares e notebooks não vêm mais com baterias de níquel cádmio. As baterias utilizadas hoje são as baterias de íons de lítio (Li-Ion), que armazenam muito mais energia (não é à toa que os celulares hoje são muito mais ricos em cores e aplicativos) e são imunes ao efeito memória. Ou seja, as baterias dos celulares de hoje NÃO VICIAM! Portanto, não é necessário mais esperar a bateria descarregar completamente para recarregá-la, nem é necessário carregá-la até a sua capacidade máxima. Pelo contrário! É recomendável que não se deixe a bateria descarregar completamente, pois se ela perder totalmente a sua carga, ela pode chegar a um nível em que se torna inutilizável.

Outra questão é a da carga inicial. Para baterias de íon-lítio, ela também se torna totalmente dispensável. Tanto é que os manuais nem informam dessa carga inicial mais. Isso continua sendo divulgado devido à desinformação dos vendedores e das pessoas que não têm idéia de que a tecnologia já evoluiu. É até bom evitar que a bateria fique ligada na tomada mais do que o período necessário para completar a carga. Isso porque se o carregador falhar no controle de energia fornecida à bateria, ela pode superaquecer e estragar. Os carregadores originais dos celulares possuem um controle interno, através do qual a corrente é cortada caso a bateria esteja completamente carregada (isso também é um motivo para evitar carregadores genéricos, como os de camelô, porque eles normalmente não possuem esse controle).

Portanto, se o seu celular tem uma bateria de íon-lítio (basta olhar no manual, na caixa ou na própria bateria para saber qual o tipo dela), procure manter um ciclo de cargas e descargas constante, de forma que não deixe a bateria se descarregar completamente, e a mantenha no carregador apenas o tempo necessário para completar o carregamento. Evitar utilizar a bateria com medo de gastá-la não adianta, quanto mais utilizá-las melhor para a vida útil delas, pois essas baterias possuem uma vida útil de 2 a 3 anos, o que faz com que elas se desgastem mesmo que não estejam sendo utilizadas. Por fim, evite expô-las a fontes de calor, pois as baterias de íon-lítio são extremamente sensíveis à temperatura, podendo até em alguns casos (raros) explodir.

Portanto, fica aí a dica. Espero que tenha ajudado. Agora, se a sua bateria é das antigas, sorry, vai ter que continuar se ferrando ae huauhahuahuhau.

Dúvidas, comentários, algo a acrescentar? Escreve aí embaixo. Abraços!

Referências:
Wikipedia: Bateria de íon lítio
Wikipedia: Bateria de níquel cádmio
Como funcionam as baterias de íon-lítio
Mitos e verdades sobre baterias
Digiforum: Sony W90 – Primeira Carga da Bateria

[Viktor's] laptop needed a new battery; he had the trade off between carrying around a cheap but heavy sealed lead acid (SLA) battery, or buying an expensive but light Li-Ion battery. Figuring his old laptop was pretty heavy already, and having an unused SLA available, re-purposing it for his laptop wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Using a boost converter he built out of a custom dip MAX668, he is able to output the necessary 5 amps required. An MC 34161 voltage monitor chip is planned for future revisions, but he’s currently running it just fine. Check out some of his other cool hacks on Karosium.

Related: MSI Wind extended battery

*Click the image to buy

The Tamiya (#74089) Electric Screwdriver Set (PT01) has just arrived @ rcMart.com

【 Multi-Purpose Electric Screwdriver 】 Tamiya proudly releases this Electric Screwdriver Set which can be conveniently used for assembling R/C models and for other DIY purposes. This screwdriver features 21 adjustable torque settings, and the clutch function stops the motor to prevent the screwdriver from damage in the case it faces more torque than the set value. The equiped lock button allows you to use this electric screwdriver in the either the standard pistol shape or straight forms. Also comes with a forward/reverse switch button as well as high/low speed select lever. In addition, the included LED light allows you to clearly see the area you are working on improving your work efficiency. The built-in 7.2V lithium-ion battery can be fully charged in approximately 30 minutes with the included AC100V charger. The set also includes soft case and 5 screwdriver bits which can be easily attached and detached by simply sliding the sleeve.

Feature:
- For: Miscellaneous
- Color: Black
- Rechargeable
- Tightening torque can be set to stage 21, when it took over the setting torque motor stop working while the clutch mechanism
- Features a lock button can be used as tack drivers
- Forward and reverse function
- High speed and low speed switching lever
- The pistol can be straight, according to the work to fit
- High-brightness LED light up the screw holes
- Internal 7.2V Li-ion battery in the body. Come with 100V power adaptor to recharge full in 30 minutes
- Come with a screwdriver head set for various purposes

Include:
- Electronic Screwdriver set
- Screwdrivers head (5pcs)
- Battery (1pc)
- Charger (1pc)
Caution:
*The charger is for AC100V input only and with a 2 pins plug. Adaptor is needed if the voltage/socket of your country is different

Source: Tamiya

where to buy?
http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-tool-tamiya-74089-electric-screwdriver-pt01-p-29744.html

I extract a large demand for the best way to get cells from dewalt cordless tools makita and how. … Li-ion Makita A123 nanophosphate LiFePO4 Battery Electric Bike Tool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5taguEdlkY&hl=en

Thanks To : Dewalt Tool – Shop & Save Quailty Dewalt Tool Dewalttools – Shop & Review Dewalt tools Dewalttools – Shop & Review About Dewalt Tools

La compañía francesa Bonitor ha lanzado al mercado dos nuevos mini proyectores, el MP201 y MP301. Ambos modelos se basan en la tecnología LCOS y disponen de pantalla de 640 × 480 4:3 de resolución, 15 lúmenes de brillo, ratio de 1.57/1.62 y luz LED.

El Bonitor MP201 ha sido diseñado para su uso con las consolas de juegos, reproductores DVD / Blu-ray, teléfonos móviles, reproductores de PMP/MP3, ya que sólo ofrece entrada de vídeo compuesto. Tiene incorporado altavoces de 0.5Wx2 y batería recargable de Li-ion.

El Bonitor MP301, por otra parte, está hecho para ser utilizado con Windows de escritorio o de ordenadores portátiles. Tiene un conector USB para la fuente de alimentación y un conector de entrada VGA. También viene con altavoces y batería, el MP301 es más pequeño y más liviano que el modelo anterior; es tan pequeño como un móvil.

Los mini proyectores Bonitor MP201 y MP301 tienen un precio de 289 y 249 dólares, respectivamente.

Vía | ActualidadGadget

Metabo Power Tools are renowned for their quality power tools and they’ve recently extended the range of cordless lithium ion machines

The range includes 14.4 volt LT drill/driver, combi drill and impact driver, LTX drill driver and combi drill, 18 volt LT drill/driver, combi drill and impact driver, LTX drill driver and combi drill. They plan to add more tools later including reciprocating saw, circular saw and 24 volt SDS plus hammer.

Whats special about this new LT and LTX range?

Batteries – the batteries have electronic protection which unlike other battery protection actually monitors the individual cells condition and status while working and charging. This means that whenever needed the battery cells are always 100% fit for the job and will work together to get the job done. The lithium ion batteries also feature discharge and overcharge protection as well as overheat and overload shut down.

Electronic switch – The rubber coated switch featuring soft start, variable speed and quick stop. These features and the improved technolgies behind them help towards extending the life of the machine.

Impuls switch – Impuls function with flashing LED status display. Metabos unique impuls function (boost puls switch) provides short bursts of bosst torque through the drill bit. This makes finishing off difficult screws, extracting difficult screws or starting off holes in polished surfaces far quicker and easier than you’d normally expect.

New Motors Concept – With increased performance and reduced size and improvements in motor cooling and motor overload (burn out) protection these new machines are sure to last much longer than their predecessors.

LT Class Motors – Improved power density enabling more compact size. Optimised ventilation which allows for lower temperatures so lengthens the life span. Improved cooling for longer periods of use.

LTX Class Motors – 4-pole motor for enhanced precision and durability. Stronger magnets improve torque and power. Up to 75% more efficiency. 4 carbon brushes instead of 2 give increased torque output.

Ergonomic Design and Housing – Modern design improving balance and grip. New gear speed selection switch positioned to enable single handed use. All metal gear box (no plastic parts). New clutch reduces machine length. Slide on batteries.

The LT range are suited for medium duty professional applications such as woodworking, interior construction and installation. The weight of the machines is low.

The LTX range are suited for heavier duty applications in the construction industry but still benefit from being lightweight and compact.

These machines can be seen at Toolstop.co.uk now. Let us know if you need more details.

Ryobi Power Tools have made every power tool users life much easier as well as saving them cash with their highly flexible 18 volt cordless ONE+ range.

The range includes 29 power tools, 7 garden power tools and there are more to come.

The flexibility means you can build your own customised power tool kit.  There’s no need to buy batteries and battery chargers with every purchase and there’s no annoying power tools you’ll never use just because they came as part of a combo kit.

Simply get started by purchasing the number of batteries and chargers you need or a starter kit which will come with one tool, 2 batteries and a charger.  Then add in the tools you need and buy a toolbag (5 in the range holding from 2 to 7 tools) which will accomodate them.

The batteries come in 3 versions, ni-cd, li-ion compact and li-ion full size.  These batteries are all fully interchangeable and can all be used on any of the tools in the ONE+ range.  The beauty is you can switch between tools as easily as swapping over a battery.

This concept will save you money.  Normally when buying tools you need to buy the full kit including the batteries and chargers.  So, this means if you bought 5 tools you might end up with 10 batteries and 5 battery chargers which can be an expensive business.

Make your power tool purchases affordable by looking at the Ryobi ONE+ range of tools for the next upgrade to your tool collection.

This new cordless impact wrench from Bosch has recently come onto the market and boasts :

• Compactness – 7% shorter and 11% lighter than their predecessor
• Powerful – 11% more powerful
• Flexible – Choose from compact 1.3ah or full size 3ah batteries as well as body only. The batteries used are the same as those used in all Bosch 18V lithium ion tools.

This is a 1/2″ square drive impact driver and has a maximum torque of 170nM, 2,800RPM speed, 3200 impacts per minute and M6-M16 bolting capacity.

The machine weighs 1.4kg with the compact battery or 1.6kg with the full size battery.

The GDS18V-LI also has features such as a bright LED job light for use in dark spaces, electronic cell protection to avoid overloading and overheating and a belt clip for convenience.

We’ve tested this new impact wrench and it certainly comes out way ahead of its ni-cad predecessor. It also fairs pretty well against the competition.

The GDS18V-LI is part of a range of 18 volt lithium ion tools from Bosch which includes a combi drill, drill driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw and impact driver.

Got some new chips from TI. FREE Samples!!! They are way too small for me to work with for now! Awesome ICs!

One is for Li-ion charge management IC.

The other one is the temperature sensing IC which have an accuracy of 0.5C. For such a small IC, this is very very impressive!

I might got some time next month to play with these chips. Would be great to integrated into my Concept Lamp Project!

This morning, the widely read website, seekingalpha.com, published an article with an intriguing headline: “Electric Cars Could Dominate Market by 2030.”  The article is based on a study carried out at UC Berkeley, and the proviso is revealing: “provided that consumers don’t have to buy the high-priced batteries themselves and an infrastructure can be built to maintain and manage them.” (http://seekingalpha.com/article/152127-electric-cars-could-dominate-market-by-2030).  There it is: the key to our willingness or ability to switch to electric vehicles is the batteries that power them.  The study is worth looking at (there is a link in the article above), and it figures the cost of an infrastructure to handle batteries at $320+ billion, partially offset by a saving of $205 billion occasioned by reduced healthcare costs due to fewer harmful emissions.  The article also ventures a guess that emissions could be reduced by 62% from 2003 levels, and that 350,000 new jobs could be added to the economy. 

In the first article in this series, we had a brief look at the definitions of two types of hybrids: power-split hybrids and mild hybrids.  We believe that these hybrids will dominate the EV market for the midterm at least, and that the pure EV market will arrive in terms of meaningful numbers several years down the pike.

Before we discuss the battery market, we should note that heavy vehicle operators, makers and conversion specialists may well be leading the way in emission reductions.  Torrance CA-based Enova Systems (Amex: ENA, http://www.enovasystems.com/) is an example of the conversion specialist.  It has had a string of good news recently, including a news bulletin this morning on its work with Smith Electric Vehicles, with vehicles delivered to numerous illustrious (and big) companies like AT&T, Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola, Staples, and PG&E (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Enova-Systems-Sees-Fleet-bw-2788026103.html?x=0&.v=1).  ENA shares languish, primarily it seems because the audience is small, and the stock is trading at $0.52 vs a 52-week high of $3.45, a market cap of under $11 million, and average volume of only 30,000 (though that is not double-counted).  ENA is reporting losses and probably is due for some dilution from new financings in the future, but its market seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, and the endorsements of big companies can do nothing but good for them.

At the same time, Mississauga ONT-based Azure Dynamics (TSX:  AZD, Pink Sheets:  AZDDF; http://www.azuredynamics.com/), also a pennystock is developing, building and selling hybrid trucks delivery vans for companies like FedEx, and passenger busses for municipal bus lines.  We have written about AZD in the past.

Azure Dynamics Hybrid Delivery Van

AZD shares trade fairly heavily on the TSX, with an average daily volume of nearly 1.5 million shares.  The US Pink Sheets version of the stock trades far less (70,000 shares), but that is the price we will quote because it is in USD: $0.19 vs a 52-week high of $0.27.  AZD is also reporting losses and consuming cash, but it is hard to imagine how a company gearing up to make fleet vans and trucks and city busses could do so without breaking a few eggs.  They announced a supply agreement with Johnson Controls earlier this year.

Another Canadian company,  Reno-based Altair Nanotechnologies (Nasdaq: ALTI, http://www.altairnano.com/) is concentrating in its transportation segment in batteries for heavy-duty vehicles and municipal busses, although we hasten to add that its primary identification is with the storage of energy from renewable sources, and if you go to their website, the first thing you will see is wind turbines.  Altairnano batteries for the transport market are lithium ion powered.  ALTI shares are trading at $1.03 at the moment, vs a 52-week high of $2.94, and the average volume is nearly 700,000 shares, so there is some liquidity.

We did an article on the subject of busses on June 8.  If you put “hybrid bus” into the search engine of this blog, you can get to that article.  There are illustrations of several, including one from privately held, Golden CO-based Proterra, (http://www.proterraonline.com/pdfs/Index-5_Page-1.pdf).

In the next article in this series, we will start to look at batteries, which, as the SeekingAlpha article that began this article says clearly, are the sine qua non of hybrids now and EVs later.

AOL Auto ran an article this weekend on hybrid cars, by no means an uncommon subject in any medium these days.  Interestingly, their headline was “Insight Costs Less than Prius” (http://autos.aol.com/gallery/hybrids-under-30?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl6|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fautos.aol.com%2Fgallery%2Fhybrids-under-30 ).   With electric power in cars more common, it is worth looking at what that means — and what investors should be looking for if they find the electric and hybrid car markets interesting. 

For one thing, there are many different types of hybrid vehicles, and the differences are meaningful in HOW they are designed, HOW they save fuel, and HOW they are powered — even to what extent they are dual-powered. 

There are lots of overlapping definitions, but basically the most common range is from “power-split” hybrids to “mild” hybrids.   Although it may not be the snootiest resource, Wikipedia has a useful article on the types of hybrids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle), and you will have to scroll down through heavy vehicles and other types of transport before you get to autos.   The point being that the two vehicles in the AOL headline are entirely different types of cars, and whether you are shopping for a car or shopping for stocks that might benefit, you need to know the differences.

Power-split hybrids. First of all, in terms of road cars (not golf carts or campus people movers), in today’s world almost all cars that are not strictly dependent on burning fuel (gas, diesel, CNG, ethanol — whatever) are hybrids, not “EVs.”  That means they are capable, in varying ways and degrees, of being powered by BOTH internal combustion engines AND electric-powered motors.  The most common variety of hybrid on the road today (Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, and Lexus Gs450 and LS600) is the ”power-split hybrid,” cars in which a standard internal combustion engine is assisted and co-powered by 2 electric motors that can either take over at various times (like when coasting), or help supercharge the car (like during passing).  The gas engine and braking mechanism can help recharge the batteries that power the motors, and you can save gas as a result.  But power-split hybrids carry a lot of “extra” weight from having two complete powertrains, and replacement batteries for the electric motors can be dizzyingly expensive.  Nonetheless, they dominate the public consciousness about “EVs” or “hybrids” and many people assume that the other cars that are called “hybrids” are in some way similar.

Mild hybrids. Because the extra weight in a power-split hybrid cuts into the fuel saving, an alternative variety of hybrid seems, at least in the sort and mid-terms, to be more practical — and popular with car companies.  They are real fuel-savers and predicted by many marketing experts to be the most common such cars in Europe and the US very shortly. They are called “mild” hybrids, and they include 2 Hondas (Civic Hybrid and Insight), Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid, and BMW 7-series hybrids — so far.  Mild hybrids generally use one compact electric motor to assist the gas engine (which is generally downsized to save fuel), and can run the AC and other peripheral systems, while partially recharging on the fly.  These mild hybrids do not suffer from extra weight penalties, and they do not need the extraordinarily expensive battery packs that power-split hybrids need.  To a large extent they rival the power-split hybrids on fuel efficiency, but cost far less to purchase.

In either case, the batteries that power the electric motors that work alongside the internal combustion engines are a clear segment for the investor interested in the EV industry. 

What does that mean?  From an energy-storage point of view,  if you cast your investment vote for power-split hybrids, you can have your pick of energy storage companies (lithium-ion, NiMH, and a variety of exotic others).  The pioneer power-splits are running, for the most part, on NiMH batteries today — primarily because that’s the road that Toyota chose to take when they introduced the market-share-dominant Prius. 

But if you read the media, whether it is AOL, Green Car Congress, the Wall Street Journal or Earth2Tech, you have to be aware that there is a growing gaggle of lithium-ion battery companies who loudly proclaim that their batteries, not NiMH, are the batteries of the future EV or hybrid.  These include NYC-based Ener1 Inc (Nasdaq: HEV, http://www.ener1.com/), easily the most visible US li-ion car company, followed closely by the privately held (but not for long, apparently) Watertown MA-based A123 Systems (http://www.a123systems.com/company), and truly a bunch of others, like Boston Power, which recently announced that it too will get $100 million in federal stimulus money to build a li-ion plan in MA (http://www.zoomilife.com/2009/06/06/boston-power-gets-100m-in-federal-stimulus-to-build-li-ion-manufacturing-facility/).   The little-talked-about fact of li-ion batteries is that very few real cars are currently being powered by them.  How many people have actually seen a Tesla on the road?  A Fisker?  A Th!nk? Show of hands? I thought so.  Not many. 

And the further fact is that many of the world’s large car and components companies are forming alliances with none of the above or with non-US li-ion manufacturers for their future models of power-split hybrids:   http://seekingalpha.com/article/148248-lithium-ion-batteries-for-hybrid-vehicles or http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/06/continental-tak.html or http://www.thedeal.com/corporatedealmaker/2009/07/quallion_uses_gov_stimulus_mon.php.

The further complication is that the power-split hybrid is by no means guaranteed to be the winner in the hybrid sweepstakes.  Remember the “mild” hybrid?  The Honda Insight? The next article in this series will have a closer look at that version of hybrid, which may well become standard-issue on many production cars from all over the world while power-split hybrids continue to be a small minority of cars sold.

I had written a month or two ago about the Nissan Cube, Nissan’s new “mobile” vehicle. The Cube has easily been my favourite car of 2009, it’s easy on the eyes, easy on gas,  and easy on the wallet at around $14k.  Well Nissan has done it again! Over the last few years they have been using prototype vehicles (pictured above) to test out their brand new wireless charging technology… and next year it looks like they will put that new technology into practice.  (I don’t have Nissan shares but it sure sounds like I do).  See the article from The Guardian UK below:

Nissan has developed a revolutionary plug-free technology that it claims will make charging electric cars easier and faster. The wireless charging system is based on the concept of inductive charging, the same electromagnetic field technology used to charge an electric toothbrush. Nissan has scaled it up for use in their Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) electric car, which can charge in a compatible parking bay without the need for wires. Today’s electric car owners, by contrast, have to carry a mains plug aboard to recharge.

So this basically means that when you park your ZEV into an appropriate parking stall the car will automatically start charging for you.  Just goes to show how quickly technology changes as it was only about 2 weeks ago I was writing about plug-in electric charging stations being installed in Vancouver and now in 5-10 years those may be obsolete.  Nissan also figures that if they can install these charging plates in a parking stall why can’t they implant a bunch of them on the freeway as well?

The plan by Nissan is to have designated EV (electric vehicle) or ZEV (zero emission vehicle) lanes which will have a series of plates in them that would allow your vehicle to charge while you drive… in theory as long as you are on a designated charging lane you could technically drive non-stop, with zero emissions, for as long as you wanted.  I bet the oil lobbyists are excited about this!

The Nissan ZEV will be a five-seater family-sized car with a top speed of 90mph.  It will go on sale in 2010 in the USA and Japan and then in most markets in 2012.  I have yet to see a picture of it but Redmer van der Meer, Nissan’s European electric vehicle product manager, says it won’t be a weird shaped egg or anything and it will be built in a way so that when new improved batteries are developed they can easily be retro-fitted.  Sweet!  The ZEV is expected to be unveiled on August 2nd, in Yokohama, Japan.

Cheers!

jordenf

adafruit industries’ latest product is an adjustable breadboard power supply kit. We’ve seen breadboard supplies before, but like most of adafruit’s kits, this is the best design you’re going to encounter. It uses an MIC2941 voltage regulator instead of the more commonplace LM317. It has a very low dropout which means your output voltage can be much closer to the input voltage. Their example is using 3AAA or a Li-Ion battery for an output of 3.3V. Input can be through a barrel jack or terminal blocks. There is a selection switch for 3.3, 5, and adjustable voltage. Using the adjustment pot you can select an output voltage anywhere from 1.3V to within .5V of the 20V maximum input. The adjusted output voltage will remain the same even if you increase the input voltage. Like all of their kits, you can find schematics, assembly and usage instructions, on their project site.

Puedo decir que por fin, luego de muchos dolores de cabeza, puedo publicar este artículo (cuestiones técnicas de mi computadora que no vienen al caso). Y hoy les presento esta novedad que espero no de mala suerte: no lo creo, se trata del nuevo Acer F900, un modelo que es tan completo y tecnológico como los mejores de las otras marcas de celulares.

En definición se trata de un smartphone de la marca Acer que pertenece a los de la gama alta: entre otras cosas tiene consigo conectividad GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G HSDPA 900 / 2100 y una pantalla tipo TFT completamente táctil de 65K colores y unos 480 x 800 píxeles.

Posee entrada para tarjeta para microSD, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.0 con A2DP y hasta soporte miniUSB. No olvidemos su muy buena cámara de 3.15 megapíxeles con 2048 × 1536 píxeles, auto-focus y flash tipo LED.

También tiene una cámara secundaria VGA para video llamadas, Windows Mobile 6.1 Profesional preinstalado, sintonizador de radio FM y una batería standard de Li-Ion. Su precio no lo sabemos.

Vía | SinCelular

Quando me pediram para sugerir um tema para o programa Olhar Digital (Rede TV) disse para falarem sobre os mitos que envolvem a pergunta: “Como devo utilizar o notebook para preservar e prolongar a bateria do mesmo ?” “Ligo na tomada ?” “Trabalho direto na bateria ?”

Não imaginei como seria complexo conseguir dos fabricantes uma posição oficial e documentada sobre o assunto. Depois de muita pesquisa e de utilizar muitos contatos dentro da IBM, Dell e HP, consegui apenas documentação da HP oficializando o assunto.

Se tem um notebook, vale a pena conferir, eu me surpreendi com o resultado da pesquisa.

Fontes:

Artigo: Notebooks HP – Compreender as baterias de lítio e a tecnologia Smart Battery [HP]

Artigo: Como funcionam as baterias de íon-lítio [HSW]

Artigo: Como funcionam as pilhas e baterias [HSW]

NASA Selects Saft For Li-ion Technology

Saft has been awarded a contract to develop the next-generation lithium-ion (Li-ion) technology for NASA. The company said it was selected for its expertise in electrochemistry and its ability to take products developed in the research laboratory to large-scale manufacturing.

In order to launch and operate rovers, landers, astronaut packs, and other space applications on the moon, the technology must offer very high specific energy.

Based on its existing high-energy Li-ion technology know-how, Saft is developing an advanced lithium-ion cell that will enable NASA to reduce the weight of its next-generation missions.

Nickel cadmium (NICAD)

Terdiri dari nickel oxyhydoxide sebagai katoda, cadmium sebagai anoda, dan potassium hydroxide sebagai elektrolit. Baterai ini memiliki masalah dengan ‘efek memory’.

Nickel metal hydride (NiMH)

Hadir menggantikan NICAD, menggunakan nickel oxyhydroxide sebagai katoda, nickel alloys digabungkan dengan beragam metal sebagai anoda, dan potassium hydroxide sebagai elektrolit. Baterai ini juga masih bermasalah dengan ‘efek memory’.

Lithium ion atau Li-Ion

Baterai laptop jenis terbaru yang menggunakan campuran lithium oxide cathode carbon sebagai anoda dan senyawa organic sebagai elektrolit. Baterai Li-Ion ini lebih ringan dan tidak memiliki ‘efek memory’.

Efek memory berarti bila baterai secara terus-menerus dipakai sebagian sebelum diisi ulang, sehingga baterai lupa dayanya masih ada. Jadi, bila mengisi baterai sudah sampai penuh dan kemudian menggunakan 50% dari kapasitas baterai sebelum pengisian berikutnya, maka baterai tidak menyadari kapasitas yang 50% sisanya tidak digunakan. Baterai tetap berfungsi, namun hanya menggunakan energi 50% sisa dari kapasitas aslinya.

Sumber : Buku “Most Wanted Laptop / Notebook”

Pengarang : Mochammad Hidayatullah

Penerbit : Andi Offset

Sumber : Beritanet

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