Home & Industrial Connected Devices
Ensurge Battery Benefits for Home & Industrial Connected Devices
Ensurge solid-state lithium microbatteries offer multiple performance and form factor advantages over conventional sensor battery options.
What Constitutes Industrial Connected Devices?
Observe, Measure and Monitor
IoT devices are everywhere, as part of traffic monitoring, building HVAC systems, asset tracking, and industrial manufacturing. Many of these sensors are in mobile or remote locations such that they need their own power source.
Medical, Functional, Security and Entertainment Applications
IoT devices also permeate our personal lives, in our home security systems, our smart watches, smart cars, residential heating and cooling, healthcare and home theater systems.
Provide Real-time Information
IoT devices help monitor real-time conditions of our homes, our cars, our health, our workplace, and our environment, often invisibly. Many of our modern conveniences trace back to IoT devices.
What are the specific design challenges?
- SizeBattery size is often the limiting factor for a device's overall dimensions. Advanced microchip design and functionality cannot overcome conventional battery size requirements. Thankfully, the Ensurge microbattery is considerably smaller and lighter than conventional coin cell batteries, thus allowing manufacturers to design a battery compact enough to power a wide variety of wearable sport and fitness sensors.
- Form FactorA battery's form factor is also a limiting factor for device design. The length, width and/or thickness of a battery can impose severe design limitations on manufacturers. The Ensurge microbattery, on the other hand, has an adaptable form factor which can more easily conform to whatever shape a manufacturer needs.
- ChargeabilityConventional lithium batteries suffer from voltage drop as they discharge, have pulse rate limits, and can only be recharged a few hundred times before wearing out. Ensurge microbatteries, on the other hand, have a much steadier voltage rate throughout discharge, can be charged quickly, and offer 1000+ charge cycles.
- Excellent VEDVolumetric Energy Density (VED) is a measure of how much energy a battery can hold per unit volume. In other words, its energy density. Ensurge microbatteries have extremely high VED, thus allowing manufacturers to either reduce the overall size of an Ensurge battery, enable longer operating times before it needs to be recharged, or energize more functionality for their devices.
- Durable, Rugged ConstructionMany batteries are prone to damage from water, from heat, from shock and pressure, or all the above. They are often the most fragile component in any device due to these vulnerabilities. Ensurge batteries, however, are much more robust and able to withstand conditions which would damage other batteries. They are also able to withstand more demanding manufacturing conditions such as Surface Mount Technology (SMT) assembly process.
What are the limits of current approaches?
Size and Form Factor Limits
Current microbattery manufacturing methods set limitations on form factor and size. For instance, the common coin cell shape and size mandate that a product which needs more power, must connect those cells in parallel to increase the overall capacity. Their target products must be shaped around them, often in inconvenient ways. This creates limitations for the products themselves, such as overall size, shape, and thickness.
Relatively Low VED
Current microbatteries have limited VED, which places limits on either minimum size or maximum output. That in turn places limits on the products which use the battery. They must be larger than a certain size and/or limited in functionality, to accommodate the battery's own limitations. The bottom line is that next-generation features in those products are often beyond the capabilities of the batteries which power them.
Limited Functionality
Conventional Li-ion batteries have several design limitations which in turn limit the devices they power. They collectively have limited charge duration and charging cycle . They also have temperature and pressure limitations, both during manufacturing and in use, which limit a manufacturer's options for using them as a power source. Even transportation is an issue, with fire risk making their shipment much more complicated.
How Ensurge Moves the Market Forward
Customizable Size and Form Factor
The Ensurge solid-state lithium microbattery solves many of the above issues. Ensurge's manufacturing methods eliminate many of the complications faced by other battery assembly methods. The Ensurge microbattery's internal architecture allows it to be assembled in different sizes and thicknesses. This then allows the battery to be used in a wider variety of products. This adaptability gives OEM manufacturers greater flexibility to specify a battery which meets their needs, rather than designing their products around a conventional battery's limitations.
Higher VED for Better Performance
The Ensurge microbattery offers much higher VED than coin cell batteries. In other words, the batteries are smaller and have better energy density than conventional coin cell batteries. This means they can provide more power per unit size. Manufacturers can use that high VED in several ways, either with smaller products, longer operating life before recharging is needed and/or with greater functionality. Ensurge microbatteries make smaller, more functional IoT devices a reality.
Types of Home & Industrial Connected Devices
IoT devices are widely varied and now occupy every facet of modern life. They are in our wallets, in our homes, in our cars, in our workplace, in the infrastructure which powers our communications, our utilities, our office buildings, our factories and our transportation systems. Examples include:
- Smart Livestock Tags
- Smart Pet Collars
- Smart Golf Ball with GPS
- Vehicle Key Fobs
- Smart Toothbrush Heads
- Smart Tobacco Products
- Smart Insulin Pens
- Implantable Devices for Animals
- Smart Agricultural Sensors
- Hospitality IoT Devices