Vacuum creator Dyson invests $15m in technology that may double smartphone battery life

This guy just won't quit!

From The Guardian

Dyson is investing $15m in a new type of battery that promises to double smartphone battery life and allow electric cars to drive over 600 miles per charge.

The British vacuum company was alerted to the University of Michigan spin-off called Sakti3, which has developed next generation solid-state technology that can store twice as much energy as traditional rechargeable batteries.

As part of the investment, Dyson has entered into a joint development agreement to commercialise Sakti3’s solid-state battery technology. The new batteries promise to store twice as much energy as today’s liquid-based lithium batteries, that are used in everything from smartphones and tablets to cars, robots, and renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines.

“Sakti3 has achieved leaps in performance, which current battery technology simply can’t,” said company founder James Dyson. “It’s these fundamental technologies – batteries, motors – that allow machines to work properly.”

Battery technology is one of the major limiting factors of portable or cordless electronic products today. While surrounding computer technologies have progressed at a staggering rate, batteries haven’t kept up, leading to user frustration and limits on what can be done.

The lithium-ion technologies used in today’s best batteries have barely progressed since their introduction in 1991 by Sony. There has been improvement in longevity and charging times, but not a great deal in terms of the amount of energy that batteries store.

Mobile electronics have been forced to choose: either be heavier and thicker, or else suffer from poor battery life, which is one of the reasons products like the iPhone rarely last longer than a day on a single charge.

Solids not liquids
Most batteries rely on a liquid mixture of reactive compounds, which store energy from the mains and release it when required through chemical reactions within the cell in the form of electricity.

Sakti3’s solid-state technology uses solid lithium electrodes instead of a liquid mix of chemicals, which doubles the amount of energy that can be stored within a battery.

The eight-year-old company claims its solid-state batteries can store over 1,000 watt hours per litre, which is almost double the best traditional lithium-ion batteries available today with an energy density of up to 620 watts per hour per litre. That increased energy density could effectively double the battery life of mobile electronics, extend the range of electric vehicles and lead to thinner and lighter technology.

The batteries also promise to be cheaper to manufacture, longer lasting and be more environmentally friendly than current lithium-ion batteries. Solid-state batteries also remove some of the safety issues around the explosive nature of liquid batteries.

Other battery technologies in development, such as sulphur-based batteries, have been held back by safety issues. The chemical reactions used to generate the electricity can be violent and corrosive, meaning that they need to be carefully contained to avoid leaks and the reaction releasing the electricity must be kept stable to avoid overheating and potentially explosive consequences.

As most batteries are used in close proximity to the body, such as a smartphone kept in a pocket, tough safety regulations are in place.

Ann Marie Sastry, founder and chief executive of Sakti3, said that the agreement with Dyson will allow the company to bring its technology to the mass market.

“There is a great deal of knowledge and passion on both sides, and Dyson’s engineering team has the capability and the track record to scale up new ideas and make them a commercial reality,” she said.

Additional investors in Sakti3 include Khosla Ventures, General Motors and others.

One of the major factors holding back electric cars is so-called “range anxiety”. The best electric cars can only manage around 300 miles on battery power before requiring recharging, which can take over an hour even on the fastest chargers. Batteries with twice the capacity could help alleviate such range issues and make electric vehicles a viable alternative to fossil fuel-powered cars.

Electric car company Tesla, which has also been investing heavily in battery technology, recently announced the launch of a home battery pack. The batteries will be used to store energy generated by solar panels and other renewable sources powering homes overnight and helping reduce electrical costs and carbon footprints.

What issues can solid-state batteries solve?
Smartphones: solid-state batteries could be made thinner, lighter and safer, while storing twice as much energy effectively, and doubling smartphone battery life
Cars: Satki3’s batteries could solve range anxiety in electric cars doubling the current maximum of 300 miles per charge, meaning a car could drive from London to Aberdeen without stopping
Renewable energy in the home: high-density long-life batteries could be charged by solar panels during the day, ready to power a household through the night or when the Sun isn’t shining

The Dyson name more than a dirt picker upper,more than a hand dryer...It just keeps on going and going and...

a reply to: DjembeJedi


Wasn't this on an As Seen on TV advertisement?

originally posted by: Ultralight
a reply to: DjembeJedi


Wasn't this on an As Seen on TV advertisement?

No friggin clue..Just found it random this evening and thought ATS would like to hear about it.

a reply to: DjembeJedi

Well, good post!!

Lol dyson. Have you seen their air multiplier? That thing is just a tube with a blower at the bottom and they charge people 2-300 dollars for that.

a reply to: DOADOA

i recall reading an article in regards to the company and how much they invest in advertising. The jyst was pretty much how they con people into believing its a superior product to pay much higher prices.

We had one of their vacuum and returned it for a much cheaper on that worked 3 times as good. Also their fans are pretty much a joke from what have seen.

a reply to: interupt42

I know right? It's like they're insulting our intelligence. Not saying I'm smart, I'm just telling it like it is.

originally posted by: DOADOA
Lol dyson. Have you seen their air multiplier? That thing is just a tube with a blower at the bottom and they charge people 2-300 dollars for that.

But now that tube with a blower will have a 3 day battery life and with a separate rechargeable battery back you can clean infinitely! Think of all the time you waste having to plug in a cord or recharge those bulky lithium ion batteries.

And best of all it never loses suction!

The tweakers are going to have a field day with this one.

a reply to: Ultralight

I will say one thing about Dyson, he is good at hype.
As far as vacuum cleaners goes--I have one--they suck.
Take that as you will.

as someone who smart phone is at5% battery life I welcome this.

I read somewhere that the future of batteries was graphene. A graphene battery has the potential to be super light and thin, recharge in seconds and last for months. What could be more perfect for a cell phone battery ?
If the graphine battery is a reality then poor old Mr Dyson will be throwing his investment down the drain.

a reply to: DjembeJedi

Can the phones not be designed to draw the required power directly from the wifi signal or similar transmission hence remove the need for battery's altogether?

May seem a tad far fetched but the concept of wireless power transmission has been around for sometime now. Mr Tesla seemed to hold out high hopes for such a system. Seems to me our mobile networks would be the perfect test bed to incorporate this type of technology.

en.wikipedia.org...

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: DjembeJedi

Can the phones not be designed to draw the required power directly from the wifi signal or similar transmission hence remove the need for battery's altogether?

May seem a tad far fetched but the concept of wireless power transmission has been around for sometime now. Mr Tesla seemed to hold out high hopes for such a system. Seems to me our mobile networks would be the perfect test bed to incorporate this type of technology.

en.wikipedia.org...

hmm Good idea..Tesla used a electrical resonant transformer circuit or 'Tesla Coil' to transfer electricity..WIFI may have to be modded a bit..lol what we need is a uninterruptable power battery ala cold fusion.

a reply to: andy06shake
I think what your referring to is what Tesla tried to do, Wireless electricity in the early 20th century with his Wardencliffe tower.
I took an instant dislike to Dyson when he stabbed his UK workforce in the back and moved his whole operations to the Far East.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: DjembeJedi

Can the phones not be designed to draw the required power directly from the wifi signal or similar transmission hence remove the need for battery's altogether?

The amount of power available would be miniscule. So, no.

a reply to: Bedlam

The amount of data we were able to transmit over our WiFi networks in the beginning could be considered miniscule by today's standards. Possibly this could also be the case regarding wireless power transmission?

As you probably already know technologies start of in there infancy but mature at an alarming rate due to popular demand. Considering the possibly applications for such a technology taken to its logical conclusion one has to wonder if someone somewhere is already working on said tech or has at least made some progress along the lines of Tesla's earlier work on the subject.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Bedlam

The amount of data we were able to transmit over our WiFi networks in the beginning could be considered miniscule by today's standards. Possibly this could also be the case regarding wireless power transmission?

Doesn't quite work that way. Radiating EM loses power density fast, sad to say.

eta: there are weird possibly unsellable things that use near field or evanescent waves or the like, but none of them are any good at distances of the sort you're talking about. Soljacic's stuff falls into that category.

a reply to: Bedlam

This seems interesting.

Don't know about getting in the way of the microwave beam all the same, so not really applicable to mobile phones i imagine.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

phys.org...