New Battery Models are here!
Hey guys! If you're waiting for replacement batteries for some of the brand new cameras and camcorders that were not available before, wait no more! They are finally in stock and ready to ship! Check out these 10 new models:
Olympus BLM5 / PS-BLM5 / EA-BLM5
Olympus BLS5 / PS-BLS5 / EA-BLS5
Panasonic BLC12 / DMW-BLC12 / DMW-BLC12T
Panasonic VW-VBL090 / VW-VBK180
We also have the following new batteries arriving in the next few weeks. Please check back often!
Canon BP-110
Casio NP-130
Panasonic BLD10 / DMW-BLD10 / DMW-BLD10T
Panasonic BCK7 / DMW-BCK7
Panasonic NCA-YN101F
Polaroid PoGo2
Samsung BP85A
Samsung IA-BP210E
Samsung IA-BP420E
The Guantanamo Bay of Batteries
Peter Roth is a man whose job entails one thing and one thing only. Destroying batteries. The government pays him to figure out (in a laboratory) the multitudes of ways that batteries can sizzle, fizzle, leak, flame, and explode, so that measures can be taken to prevent them from happening when consumers like you and I use them in everyday life.
Roth's lair of destruction is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Sandia National Laboratories. It consists of a number of rooms behind a 2,000 pound door - just the type of thing you'd want between you and a malfunctioning lithium-ion battery spewing toxic fumes and flames. To put things in perspective, though, the explosions that Roth sets off pale in comparison to what could happen if any of the other (nuclear) research experiments in the building were to go awry.
In addition to putting batteries in situations that causes them to fail (such as high impact punctures, short circuits, submersion, etc.) Roth and his colleague, Chris Orendorff also test out what chemicals, when used in batteries, are more stable and safe than others. Their quest, which was noble enough to garner $4.2 million in funding from the Department of Energy, is to pass all of the information they gather to manufacturers, the military, and even NASA, who use the data to constantly improve. Recently, Roth and his work has gained more attention, with the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles that draw power from large lithium-ion batteries. With most if not all automotive companies coming out with such models, many questions are being raised about battery safety. What would happen to the lithium-ion battery pack of a Chevy Volt if it was punctured as it flew off a bridge into the salty depths of the ocean? Hopefully, Roth will figure that one out for us. And how to fix it too.
Source: Wall Street Journal via Gizmodo
GM Opens Battery Factory For the Volt
The $8,000, 220-cell, lithium-ion battery pack that powers the Chevy Volt
On Thursday, General Motors will open the GM Brownstown Assembly Plant, the "first lithium ion battery pack manufacturing plant in the U.S. operated by a major automaker."
Located in Brownstown Township, Michigan, the factory will assemble the lithium-ion battery packs that will power the Chevy Volt. The batteries that fill the packs will be assembled with batteries that will be made by LG Chem of South Korea. The battery packs, which consist of 220 cells, will cost about $8,000 each (yikes).
GM will be marking the event with a grand-opening ceremony, which will be attended by both Ed Whitacre, CEO of General Motors, and Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary
With a new decade upon us, this opening could prove to be the first step in revitalizing the already wounded American car industry. Even though this plant will only be assembling the battery packs, hopefully operations can be expanded to include manufacturing components in the future, and give the Detroit Three a leg up in the automotive world.
Source: CNET
Stanford’s Paper Battery
Carbon nanotubes have been making headlines recently with a multitude of different applications and proposed uses (including use in solar cells, cancer treatment, and space elevators). The incredibly small pieces of carbon are remarkably strong, capable of a 28,000,000:1 diameter to length ratio (meaning a one millimeter wide tube can be as long as 28 million millimeters, or 17.4 miles). Plus, they are only 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair!
Using these remarkable little tubes, Stanford University has come up with one of the most interesting applications yet - a paper battery. In a video posted on YouTube, Professor Yi Cui shows the process of cutting a piece from 8.5" by 11" paper, covering it in an ink that contains carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire. After they bake the liquid of the ink off, they dip in it an electrolyte solution that allows the chemical reaction that takes place in conventional batteries to occur. Finally, they encase it in some sort of housing and hook it up to whatever needs powering!
This video shows the process a little better than I can explain it:
To top it all off, paper batteries like these are 20% lighter than existing types of batteries that are made of mostly metal, so might be able to find great advantages in portable technologies.
Sources: BBC (via Engadget)