StoreDot - super fast charging batteries

[hammy]

There is an article in the july EPE magazin, page 9:

Super-fast-charging batteries
An Israeli start-up called StoreDot has demonstrated a device made of biological structures, which when substituded for a Samsung S4 samrtphone battery went from dead to fully charged in just 26s. [...]

There is also a website about this.

Looks promising 

Anyone heard something about this technology already?

Cheers
hammy

[nixfu]

>Anyone heard something about this technology already?

yeah, they are called "capacitors".

[Artlav]

They said it themselves:

So while it can charge much faster, it won’t last as long on a charge.

Sure, i have a supercapacitor that can charge in 5 seconds.
It will sure run a phone (for a few minutes).
Where are my billions of $?

StoreDot says it’s working on the capacity issue and hopes to reach its goal of matching conventional batteries within a year.

As do everyone.
Call back when (if) you succeed, and in a fair test.

nanodots

Buzzword detector is tingling...

[tom66]

I am suspicious about the charging indication. Very few batteries charge linearly as demonstrated, and we have no proof the actual battery is being charged, only the indication from their app that anyone could have written to do anything.

[rob77]

Tesla motors is using super fast charging they're able pumping 100kW into the car's battery pack with their superchargers.

[tom66]

Tesla motors is using super fast charging they're able pumping 100kW into the car's battery pack with their superchargers.

120/135kW. But that only works out about 1.5 x C and it rapidly ramps off. If the video is genuine they're talking about something like 120 x C, which as far as I'm aware is not possible in any current battery chemistry.

[denelec]

The article is dated april 7, 2014.
Maybe the video was made april 1st...

[rob77]

Tesla motors is using super fast charging they're able pumping 100kW into the car's battery pack with their superchargers.

120/135kW. But that only works out about 1.5 x C and it rapidly ramps off. If the video is genuine they're talking about something like 120 x C, which as far as I'm aware is not possible in any current battery chemistry.

wasn't watching that video - but 120 x C sounds dodgy....  i would believe 10-20 x C but 120 ? 
btw...  that 100kW+ with tesla sounded super fast to me... but that's really 1.5 C only

[SirNick]

I did some quick mental math after watching that YT video.  I don't remember the exact figures, but assuming the battery is not a high-voltage cell (like, mains voltage), the number of amps being delivered to top off a ~2000mAh battery in that amount of time would've required substantial cabling.  That is, if any known battery chemistry wouldn't incinerate itself in the process.

If it's not an outright scam attempt, then it's just BS.  Anyone who has ever heard of Ohm's Law should see right through those claims.

[tom66]

Yes, and they appeared to be using a conventional two prong "shaver" (or EU) mains plug... I think that's rated for about 10A maximum.
To charge a 2000mAh cell in 30 seconds would require something on the order of 240 amps.
Of course they could have used an 83mAh cell @ 10A charge rate,  but what's the point? That couldn't power anything for any length of time.

[eneuro]

Anyone heard something about this technology already?

Yep, US President knows VRB too 

President Obama on Vanadium Redox Batteries


VRB ESS - Vanadium Redox Battery

[rob77]

Yes, and they appeared to be using a conventional two prong "shaver" (or EU) mains plug... I think that's rated for about 10A maximum.
To charge a 2000mAh cell in 30 seconds would require something on the order of 240 amps.
Of course they could have used an 83mAh cell @ 10A charge rate,  but what's the point? That couldn't power anything for any length of time.

actually the mains plug is not a problem...

2000mA/h * 4V = 8Wh add some overhead -  let's say 10Watt-hours of energy is needed to charge a 2000mAh 3.7Volt cell.
you can deliver the 10Wh as 5W during 2 hours or 10W during 1 hour or 600W during 1 minute or 1200W during 30 seconds. actually  1200W @ 240V mains is absolutely not an issue with a standard 10A mains plug.

the question is the battery - that must be made of unobtanium to withstand such a "abuse"  to deliver 1200W to a 4V cell - it's 300 freaking Amps. even the resistance of the cables and connectors matters at such a current - slightly bigger resistance at the connector contacts and your phone will be on fire in few seconds

[tom66]

I was working on a couple of assumptions: the box on the back of the phone is too small to do 1200W DC-DC conversion (so it must be external) and the phone's battery is about 4.2V given it appears to be running on it (I can't see it running off a 12V cell, for example.)

[rob77]

I was working on a couple of assumptions: the box on the back of the phone is too small to do 1200W DC-DC conversion (so it must be external) and the phone's battery is about 4.2V given it appears to be running on it (I can't see it running off a 12V cell, for example.)

agree - the charger would be external - but to deliver 300Amps of current you would need really thick cables (something like tesla has ). so the whole video looks dodgy. i think those guys behind the "technology" just overestimated their knowledge

if they would come-up with a 10-15 minute charging technology (still much better than the 1-2 hours) , then i would believe it because that would be doable till 2016

[Stephen Hill]

I know this is an old topic, but it just got featured on BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30710295

I can only assume that they have replaced the phone's battery with a super capacitor (or an incredibly low mWh battery) for the demonstration.

Also, I would assume that the phone's power management IC would perform current limiting, for example, Qualcomm's PM7540 Power Management IC (used in a range of phones) has a current limit of 3A, so this would have to be bypassed.

[lapm]

26 seconds to full charge? Who the hell is that horry? I always plug in my phone for night anyways, has nice 7 hours to charge.. What i would like is better battery capacity... would love it if my smart phone would have enough power even full day of use, i would not mind if i need to charge it that 7 hours at night...  Smart phones my ass, just as dump as my first Nokia was... Just eats tons more power now...

[Pjotr]

I worked on a phone power pack 6 years ago that could be charged in 1 minute! When well managed, some Li-Ion chemistries can be charged at 10C easily. What we did was using a 2 AH cell and put 200 mAh in it in one minute. So only charging 10% of its capacity. Sufficient for a day of phone use at that time. Although it worked perfect and reliable, the price of such batteries was too high then to make it a marketing success, even produced in China at large quantities.

[miguelvp]

charges as fast as a supercap but discharges at the same rate as a regular battery. New physics, new way to make the battery, sounds awfully familiar.

Maybe they sent a ceases and desist to the kickstarter 30 second battery or they bought him up or they stole it from him.

In any event, the battery can indicate full but unless I missed it I didn't see how long the battery would last on that rapid charge.