Panasonic’s storage batteries for the home
The company's president said in a recent interview with a Japanese daily newspaper that Panasonic is planning to bring the first lithium-ion battery for storing energy required to run a home.Fumio Otsubo said the product will be capable of storing enough energy for about a week's worth of typical energy used up by a home. As the second largest electronics maker in Japan after its acquisition of Sanyo earlier this month, Panasonic is well equipped to release such a product.
Otsubo says Panasonic and Sanyo have already built and tested a home battery, and again stresses that it's the best suited company to bring CO2-free home living. Once the battery is commercialized, expected to occur in 2011, it will ship with a system that will let users monitor their electricity usage on TVs. The company foresees its batteries being used in conjunction with solar panels and fuel cells.
At the same time, Otsubo sees potential for using similar battery technology in electric and hybrid cars.
An official statement will be made on January 8th regarding the strategy of integrating its product lines with newly-acquired Sanyo.
New batteries with special features
A new selection of low profile, surface mount holders for Cylindrical Lithium and Alkaline batteries have been developed by Keystone Electronics Corp.
Lightweight and durable, these high strength holders incorporate heat resistant Nylon Housings and Gold-plated Phosphor Bronze contacts. The rugged design is ideally suited for use with consumer and industrial electronic products. Engineered for both lead free and traditional reflow process soldering,the devices accept all major manufacturers' Lithium batteries. Availability is in ½ AA Lithium batteries (Catalog No. 1016) and 2/3A Lithium batteries, (Catalog No. 1018), AA battery (Catalog No.1024) and AAA battery (Catalog No. 1020) for single cell applications, (Catalog No.1022) for dual cell applications. Installation and removal does not require tools.
Keystone's broad line of battery hardware consists of SMT and THM products including, contacts, clips, holders, retainers and straps for coin and button cells batteries, as well as cylindrical batteries. The entire Keystone line is composed of several thousand different interconnects, hardware and components. Product modifications and special designs are created by our application engineering group supported by expert stamping, machining and assembly operations.
Higher Capacity Battery of Panasonic Corp.
Accord to the words of people who are familiar with the product, Panasonic Corp.has made a lithium- ion battery with 10 percent more capacity than its current model,responding to consumer demand for longer-lasting power sources.
The consumer electronics maker boosted the battery’s capacity to at least 3.4 amperes per hour, according to two people, who asked not to be identified before Panasonic announces the product Dec. 25. The company already makes a 3.1- ampere-per-hour lithium-ion battery for laptop computers.
Panasonic estimates the global market for such batteries will increase fivefold by 2018 as more people seek low-emission vehicles and opt to use mobile electronics like notebook computers. The company bought Sanyo Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, this month.
It is said that last week it’s mass-producing the 3.1-ampere battery. Panasonic plans to invest 123 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to triple production of lithium-ion batteries in two years,striving to maintain a lead over South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co. and other competitors.
Battery life has grown more important to consumers as mobile devices get more powerful computing functions and personal-computer makers shrink their products, pushing them to look for devices that can run longer without recharges.
Automakers also are shifting to develop electric cars and hybrid plug-in models that use lithium-ion cells, which are lighter and more powerful than nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in most hybrids.
Panasonic rose 2.6 percent to 1,314 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, extending its gain this year to 18 percent.
Sony Plans
Naoto Noguchi, president of Panasonic’s battery unit,said in an interview this month that Panasonic,based in Osaka,is talking with about 10 automakers to supply the batteries with demand growing.
Sony Corp. also is in talks to supply several companies with lithium-ion car batteries, Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka said last month. It will spend 100 billion yen researching and developing rechargeable batteries.
Some $4.2 million to Improve Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory
Some $4.2 million in federal stimulus funds is going to help Sandia National Laboratories improve its Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory to develop low-cost batteries for electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Sandia says its lab which tests everything from regular small cells about the size of a laptop computer battery up to packs weighing several hundred pounds for hybrid vehicles, is a leader in the field of battery testing, making sure batteries meet real-world performance requirements.
It is said that tests could be helpful to determine how much abuse lithium ion batteries can safely handle and include crushing batteries, pounding them with nails and heating them to boiling temperatures.
Dell Inspiron Mini 10
Thanks to the newly-announced Intel Atom N450 processor,Dell on Monday updated its popular Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with a new design and longer battery life. Dell has added optional HD entertainment bundles that take advantage of the new chip’s performance. The 10.1-inch system now includes a textured, smudge-resistant palm rest, sculpted keys and up to 9.5 hours of extended battery life.
The entertainment bundles will include such features as an HD display, Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator, surround sound capability, built-in HDTV tuner or built-in Wi-Fi location-enabled GPS.
New Intel Atom N450 processor at 1.66 GHz
10.1-inch display with standard (1024×600) or High Definition (1366×768) display available in coming weeks
Built-in speakers with available SRS Surround sound
HDTV tuner and location-aware GPS configurations available in coming weeks
Bundles with Broadcom Crystal HD for smooth HD playback coming in Q1
Built-in 802.11 b/g wireless with available Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband
1GB3 DDR2 memory at 800MHz
160GB4 or 250GB hard disk drive storage
Choice of 3 or 6-cell integrated battery with up to 9.5 hours of battery life (Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle only).
Choice of Windows 7 Starter or Windows XP Home, Ubuntu operating system option available in the coming weeks
Lightweight: Starting at about 2.75 – 3.1 pounds5 with a 3-cell battery
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is expected to be available in early January and will start at $299.