Building a better battery

Panasonic says it’s working together with Intel Corp. to develop an “all-day battery,” increasing the capacity by swapping cobaltate for another material the company won’t disclose.

The new material allows the batteries to be discharged down to a lower voltage, enabling users to get more runtime from their devices. Designed to power laptops, cell phones and other mobile electronics, Panasonic’s first generation battery is scheduled to hit store shelves in April, says Kurt Kelty, director of the Panasonic Energy Solutions Lab.

Intel’s contribution is developing a mobile platform technology enabling laptops to take advantage of Panasonic’s battery.

“It’s not a trivial matter to get handheld devices to operate down to 2.5 volts,” said Kelty, adding that most laptops are designed to shut down when a battery gets down to 3 volts. “Intel is going to modify their platform so their chips can run off the lower voltage.”

Independent studies of the Sony and Panasonic performance claims are hard to come by, and some scientists suspect any improvement has more to do with better power management in the design of mobile products.

Donald Sadoway, a materials scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the only way to really test the value of Sony’s new battery is to see it perform in a wide range of products.

“For all we know they could have developed more efficient displays, improved hard drives in their cameras,” he said.

Finding ways of squeezing more performance from available power is a huge area of exploration for electronics makers.

For example, they tinker with a device’s clockwork — the term used to describe how fast a machine performs a specific function — to speed up energy-eating chores. They look for ways to prevent extreme temperatures from siphoning off energy.

Sometimes an executive in charge of power management employs a less scientific approach: begging designers to make room for a bigger battery in the device, said Dave Heacock, vice president of the Texas Instruments’ portable power division.

“Everyone is involved in the same race to lower power consumption of their products while improving them,” Heacock said.

Meantime, people can always buy heavy portable batteries for backup power, extra rechargeable batteries and extra chargers. And lug them around.

Paul, the salesman, is among consumers who wonder what good mobile devices if they need to be recharged so often.

“When you’re trying to streamline our lives, the idea of keeping a backup battery, car charger and a standard charger is not the ideal solution.”

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