Intel’s Latest Chips: It’s All About (Low) Power - Don’t Forget the Batteries
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Moore’s Law is totally nonexistent when it comes to batteries. Their basic structure hasn’t changed in decades. They’re containers for chemicals. The chemicals react to release electrons that want to escape their container. Connect the battery to a device, and these electrons flow out as an electric current. In a way, it’s very low-tech, and therefore not susceptible to the same kinds of improvements as chips. Thus, they haven’t been able to keep up with the demands of microprocessors, which, until fairly recently, seemed to increase their needs for power with every new generation.
How can you improve battery life? “You can change the chemicals,” explains Tony Mazzola, a technical manager with battery maker Energizer. But the size of the battery itself limits the size of your “gas tank,” in effect. Manufacturers can make a bigger battery to increase the size of the gas tank and extend the battery’s life – but larger batteries are bulkier, heavier, and less portable, which somewhat defeats the whole purpose of battery operated electronic devices.
Battery makers are working on innovations that will let them “cheat” this nasty equation. For instance, Energizer’s new e2 battery releases a slow, steady stream of power, rather than the flood that is more typical for batteries. This kind of power release is better for certain electronic devices (such as digital cameras) and has clear implications for how long the battery will last – indeed, the e2 battery is said to be able to power digital cameras to take up to seven times as many pictures as standard batteries, under ideal conditions.
NEC also came up with a new battery. Called an organic radical battery, or ORB, it features new chemical combinations, which make it lightweight yet able to give off enough energy to power a PC. It would make a good back up battery, but hasn’t made it into any products yet. Other companies are looking at other technologies, such as fuel cells. These kinds of batteries are powered by a refillable chemical, much as you would refill a lighter. But, according to Kevin Wentzel, a technical manager with Hewlett-Packard, fuel cell batteries are “just nowhere near ready for prime time.”
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