Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery

SuAside

SuAside

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appearantly the men in white coats have invented a betavoltaic cell battery which should be able to power a laptop for 30 years & be no bigger than a modern battery. they're saying it'll be commercialised in about 2 to 3 years.

it is supposedly harmless, but pardon me for being skeptical. after all it uses decay from neutron to proton and the thereby generated beta emissions to power the thing.

still, if true, it'd be kind of neat. lets just hope it doesnt cost an arm & a leg...

source: http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-betavoltaic-10.1.html
 
The Overseer said:
But it generated beta emissions?
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yes.

just read the article, it's tiny.

they say it's not radioactive nor nuclear, though it sounds like it.

"Although betavoltaic batteries sound Nuclear they’re not, they’re neither use fission/fusion or chemical processes to produce energy and so (do not produce any radioactive or hazardous waste). Betavoltaics generate power when an electron strikes a particular interface between two layers of material. The Process uses beta electron emissions that occur when a neutron decays into a proton which causes a forward bias in the semiconductor. This makes the betavoltaic cell a forward bias diode of sorts, similar in some respects to a photovoltaic (solar) cell. Electrons scatter out of their normal orbits in the semiconductor and into the circuit creating a usable electric current."

and

"The best part about these cells are when they eventually run out of power they are totally inert and non-toxic, so environmentalists need not fear these high tech scientific wonder batteries."

though that last implies that they're not inert and non-toxic BEFORE their charge runs out. ;)
 
SuAside said:
though that last implies that they're not inert and non-toxic BEFORE their charge runs out. ;)
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exactly! who the hell owns a computer for 30 years?! They better make a standard for this so that batteries can be transfered/used between units or we'll end up with a lot of radioactive shit

I hope they case it well

add: wow this battery has been around for quite some time,

http://www.freeenergynews.com/Directory/BetaVoltaics/index.html

seems like AliBali Gumba might be proven wrong
 
...holly hanna... So now I can McGuyver a robot that will lie dormant for years and years and years that will be mistakenly activated while "the chosen one" explores my secret under ground bunker... Or, buy lappys without batteries on purpose for 30 years...

I wonder what the potential for reverse engineering the battery for other products... Say, I don't know a back up power supply for the desktop pc?
 
Maphusio said:
I wonder what the potential for reverse engineering the battery for other products... Say, I don't know a back up power supply for the desktop pc?
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laser pistols! ;)
 
it looks like what it does is it has a betavoltic system that generates electricity, but they hook that up to a battery to hold the charge as the nominal output of the betavoltic system is too low to actually power the devices themselves.
 
That is truly amazing, and this kind of power source has utility far beyond just powering laptops. Although never having to recharge my laptop, cell phone, DS, or wireless accessory does sound very nice.

I'm quite certain that whatever radiation is given off is low enough to be a non-issue, if any radiation is given off in the first place, which I'm not clear on. Although people's reactions will be predictable, since everyone's panic meter goes off the charts when the word "radioactive" is mentioned. Nevermind that everyone on the planet is subject to fair amounts of background radiation every second of every day.

Also, I'm sure it'd be a non-issue to make the technology into a universal form, similar to rechargeable AA batteries or power packs, assuming it can be made as compact as they claim.
 
monsharen said:
exactly! who the hell owns a computer for 30 years?!
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tricoder1s.jpg
 
That's kinda hard to believe seeing as laptop batteries only last a couple of hours. The technology behind it is completely different but still it's a pretty amazing and dramatic leap to go from about 3 hours straight to 30 years. That is such bad news for battery manufacturers. They will sell those batteries every 30 years ))
 
It's like the introduction of the downloadable content to the record industry. Sadly for them it is bound to happen some day, and they're bound to loose

let's just hope they realise this
 
About fucking time now we can have a reliable laptop battery. Hell mine doesn't even hold a charge after several years let alone 30.
 
Did anyone else just notice the term tritium used?


Uhhh, thats weapons grade nuclear material O_o

Granted, its used as a nuclear accelerator due to low critical mass and insubstantial yield, but thats still radioactive hydrogen being output by these batteries.
 
Wikipedia sez said:
The low-energy beta radiation from tritium cannot penetrate human skin, so tritium is only dangerous if inhaled or ingested.
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Doesn't sound too dangerous to me. Of course, I'm sure the manufacturers are going to have to put large warning labels on the things. "Warning: Don't eat the fucking batteries! Attempting to crush it into a fine powder and snort it up your nose is also a bad idea, moron!"
 
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