Meeting report: Power 2000, September 24-27, San Diego, California

Advanced Battery Technology, Dec 2000 by Roth, Jo'el

"So, my question to the room is: What next? What comes after lithium-ion?" asked panelist Michael Gobikhant of Ericsson during the OEM Roundtable Session of The Arthur D. Little Power 2000 conference at the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel in San Diego. Over 500 technical, sales and marketing professionals from around the world registered for the conference, subtitled, "The 8th Annual International Conference on Power Requirements for Mobile Computing and Wireless Communications."

During 5 Tutorials, 12 General Sessions, 26 "Battery Track" Sessions, and 17 "Emerging Technology" Sessions device manufacturers repeatedly asked battery companies to deliver more capacity in ever smaller sizes of batteries at continually lower costs. At the same time, the battery manufacturers asked the device OEMs to try to understand what it takes to make a battery. In between the two, the semiconductor companies offered their solutions to battery management, charging behavior, and safety issues.

The presentations were delivered on stage in both English and Japanese, while a translation service simultaneously whispered into the ears of those who had traveled to San Diego from 22 countries, including all parts of the United States, Canada, and Asia plus Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile.. They Giga Group promised to try to provide copies of as many of the presentations as possible on the Power 2000 web site, www.gigaweb.com/com/power/ power2OOO.html

Summary of Sessions

The session titled, "Welcome and Road Map Through the Conference," was delivered by Dr. Brian M. Barnett, vice president and director of battery industry studies at Arthur D. Little and chairman of the conference. He introduced the group to the new "buzz words" now in use, such as "Killer Application" (or "Killer App") for the next generation of battery-powered devices for wireless Internet access: always on-line, always connected. These small, portable devices will be carried in the hand or the pocket, or mounted in the car, on the body, or even implanted. The home PC or laptop will still be used for data entry, graphics creation, and number crunching, while the portables will be little wonders of instant information access and communications. They will provide visual or musical entertainment and become an integral part of everybody's lives.

As pointed out by William J. Proffer, chief scientist for SAIC, in his tutorial, "Personal Multimedia Devices: Not Your Father's Walkman," these devices are no longer the sole property of the traveling executive. As is already the case in Japan, most teenagers carry a GPS and wireless Internet-enabled cell phone. They communicate with their parents and friends, download music, and play video games while they cruise the mall or gather in the subway. These devices will be in every industry and segment of society, including medicine, toys, and security.

What is Bluetooth? A Tutorial

Barnett's overview points out that the communications systems are now on the table, including the newest "Bluetooth" Personal Area Network, the latest IEEE 801.11 "Facility Based Network," and the 3G Cellular Standard. The tutorial on Sunday, "Bluetooth Technology: Implications for the Power Industry," presented by Claire Ruskin of Arthur D. Little/Cambridge Consultants Inc., went into detail about this new radio communications protocol, jointly developed by Nokia, Ericsson, Toshiba, Intel, and IBM for use by all. Bluetooth is designed as "unconscious" communication over "the last 10 meters" and is a worldwide standard, licensed but with no fees or royalties payable. It is already being used for cordless headsets to communicate with the base station-phone/PC/PDA/computer and with cordless computer peripherals such as printers and cameras. It offers voice and data capability, with very low power consumption, at a carrier frequency of 2.45GHz ISM worldwide. Modules will cost about $15 to $20 in 2000 and $7 to $10 in 2001. In the near future, it will be used as a wire replacement, but will soon be in the next generation of devices: access control cards, home automation multi-utility meter reading and security services, POS terminals/scanners, remote controls, home entertainment centers, and toys/joysticks/mouse replacements ("human interface devices"). What does this mean for batteries? Three volts is good for RF technology. Bluetooth devices can have a very low standby drain (ten years from an alkaline AA?), and there will be a huge demand for low capacity cells (

Lithium Ion Industry: The Numbers

Hideo Takeshita of the Institute of Information Technology presented the results of his industry research. It shows that the demand foil lithium-ion cells in the year 2000 is expected to be about 550 million cells, with shipments of 19.2 million lithium polymer cells. Figure (1)-1 shows the major players in Li-ion, while Figure (2)-1 shows the major players in polymer production at this time.

For those on the periphery of battery design, but in the forefront of battery use and new applications, Jeff Dahn of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, walked attendees through a brilliantly detailed yet understandable "Li-Ion Battery Tutorial and Update." He starts with the definition of intercalation as the reversible insertion of guest atoms into host solids, provided the structure of the host is not significantly altered by the process. "As cells cycle," Dahn said, "the surface area of the metallic lithium increases without limit because the plated lithium deposit is not compact. After about 25 to 50 cycles, cells cannot withstand temperatures above 120degC. The passivation mechanism breaks down and thermal runaway occurs," or, in his colorful terms, "the rocket fuel reaction." He categorizes the family of lithium-ion and polymer varieties into four types: