Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea have developed, what they claim to be, the world's first imprintable and bendable lithium-ion battery. The move should hasten the adoption of mobile devices with flexible displays, such as Samsung’s Youm flexible OLED, and potentially other flexible devices that are beginning to emerge.
Wearable Li-ion batteries, that's cool, but won't be so cool if they overheat and light your heated jacket on fire! Laptops, Chevy Volt, airplanes, etc. are pretty good indicators that Li-ion has its drawbacks. Now, imagine, someone's kid gets burned, even a little bit while wearing his cool LED jacket, or the coat room burns up during a night out. Dunno...I think that Li-ion tecnology will have a ways to go yet before we can ubiquitously start putting it into flammable, wearable goods. Try putitng a 9V dry cell in your pocket with a bit of change...yeowch!
Interesting observation, and you're right. It seems for awhile that device design was going in the direction of thinner, smaller and more sleek. Now that a lot of companies have got that down, it's time to make them flexible. I look forward to see where this trend will take us.
Yes, Charles, exactly. That was what I was thinking as well. Anything close to the body should be flexible, as having a hard battery would just make it more uncomfortable to wear.
Ann, you are right. Wearable & portable electronic devices may be more benefitable because the devices become handier and hence easy to carry either in pouch or hand bag. How about the durability or life time of such cells/battery when it becomes bendable?
Elizabeth, it seems that now a day's all inventions are happening in a similar direction to bent the existing technology. Last month we read about foldable screen and now about batteries. Hope this will lead to a technology to bendable devices, so that we can bend and keep the device in our wallet or hand bag.
Liz, the flexible batteries would be great for some of the wearable medical systems you wrote about. An electronic patch on the arm or shoulder would definitely benefit from having a flexible battery.
There are a lot of apps for a bendable battery aside from displays and touch screens, and they somewhat parallel the apps for bendable displays themselves: smart fabrics, wearable electronics, conformable signage, for example.
Duh, I didn't even think of that, TJ, but of course! And I actually reported on some of these electronic-embedded fabrics etc. It didn't occur to me at the time this would be a good application, but you're right, it certainly would make these types of things much more comfortable to wear by eliminating the need for a hard, bulky battery.
Elizabeth, I think it will go beyond phones and tablets. In the past year Design News has reported on various fabrics and clothing with embedded electronics. A flexible battery seems a perfect power source for smart clothing.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
