What's the next step for laptop batteries?

It seems silly that laptop batteries today still only last at best a few hours, unless you wawnt to carry around a heavy high-capacity battery pack.

I think one day manufacturers will design a portable, non-rechargeable nuclear power pack, that will last for years yet still be the same size as standard laptop batteries

 

there has been a major improvement on solar panels recently, may be, we can dream about the future, where our batteries will be accompanied with an additional source of power))))

 

Solar won't be much use use, considering strong sunlight is required, where the screen would be unuseable due to the glare.

I really think that portable nuclear power cells, using similar technology to nuclear power stations but on a smaller scale, would be much better. It could last for years.

 

Let's see... possibly hydrogen power packs, I've seen things about micro gas turbines, though I don't know if you really want to have to gas up your laptop, or deal with emissions. I think there is also research going on in to organic power sources with higher efficiency than current tech.

 

Yeah... but how many nuke-batts would it take to build a dirty bomb? I don't see that happening. Ever.

 

In all seriousness, there's always new technology being developed, including these supposed 20 hour batteries: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/19/169259&from=rss.

 

Yes, Hydrogen is a definite possiblity.

 

ROFLMAO neuclear powered batteries?!??! thats just bwahahaha man. my laptop would be a mini nuke? haha dude cmon there are way better means to power a laptop

anyway if battery would have power source probably some high capacity fuel cell that youd still need to charge but can go on days instead of hours.

 

This more plausible. Like an advanced version of what Lithus said

 

You'd be surprised at how good nuclear technology is these days, it has a bad image among the uninformed masses that sit around watching FOX network but in reality it's perfectly safe.

 

To clarify, I mean a hydrogen fuel cells, not things you have to refill with hydrogen.

 

nah, i have a better idea)) Good old internal combustion engine + generator + wheels.. and in the end it's not you carrying a loptop around, but laptop carrying you)))) xD

 

Was that in Soviet Russia?

As for the nuke battery, I think I read that before and it was a very real thing, they used depleted stuff that does not really emit any nuclear radiation for battery's that last a very very long time and they were supposed to be safe and very cheap for what you get. Infact I think it was an environmentally healthy thing because you use up all the energy and thus deplete all the radiation, vs what they do now and just dump it and it hurts the environment.

There are alot of cool things like this idea that sould great and you see that one big story on it, then it goes quiet and everybody forgets about it and vanishes. Sometimes tho it just pops back up and walla its on market, so how knows.

 

http://ksef.kstc.com/Dynamic/Awards/Abstract.cfm?ContactID=KSEF-291-RDE-003

According to that, nuke-batt is still dangerous to people, even when talking about depleted uranium. Add to that the fact that it is incredibly heavy (very dense, that's why they use it in tank shells and bullets), and you can see why it doesn't make sense for laptop batteries. What they are talking about are industrial-size battery banks to store power on the grid, to even out supply from things like wind and solar, and to reduce the strain and increase efficiency on fuel-powered plants by allowing them to maintain constant operation levels.

 

yeah that's called an RTG or radioisotope thermoelectric generator, it's basically a big piece of plutonium heated by it's own radioactive decay with a bunch of thermocouples on it. you could build nukes with them and they cost more than your house.

Get used to batteries boys! capacity improvements will be largely incremental but dramatic safety and cycle life improvements are coming via nanotechnology, if the "20 hour battery" mentioned back in the thread was based on "silicon nanowires" you can forget about it, those are pie in the sky theoretical.

 

Nuclear cells aren't possible because:

- the fuel is far too expensive
- the fuel lasts longer than the lifetime of the product; about 25 years
- spent fuel is an environmental nightmare
- no feasible way of protecting users from radiation

Toshiba developed hydrogen fuel cells for a laptop awhile back, but it was a prototype concept only; plus the battery added 2 inches or so to the laptop's profile.

 

Screw batteries. Laptops (and all electronics) should be powered by treadmills. Get you fat people on your feet.

 

I think supercapacitors are the way to go.

 

Nuclear power batteries would be the bomb. Too bad bad things happen when you combine something extremely radioactive with electronics.

 

I think you're missing the big picture; what about health concerns? Nuclear technology is powerful, but relatively unstable and difficult to contain. Its also impossible to clean up.

 

Well, nuclear laptop batteries might help trim down the human population... or at least lead to more mutants.

 

Hear! Hear!

Even the very best super and ultracaps have 1/3 the energy density of rechargeable batteries (that means a third the battery life).

Pun Intended?

 

OMG!! ::worship:: ::worship::

Screw the health concerns!! just use lead instead of Aluminum!!!!! 1 inch of lead I hear is enough to block the radiation!!

Yes, I'm such a poet! Wait, don't poets become liberal and boy lovers??

 

I'm just closing my eyes and shaking my head right now. Hopeless. Just hopeless.

 

The next step is probably a wireless power infrastructure via a magnetic field and some portable generator inside the laptop that the magnetic field can drive. Then you can get constant power in airplanes, airports, starbucks, in your car etc and only need a battery when you're out in the middle of nowhere (god know why you're out in the middle of nowhere in the first place )

 

They are working on using silicon, in the batteries instead of lithium, which they claim will be able to hold a 40 hour charge. Heres the link to what I found


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/could_silicon_whiskers.php

 

That sounds massively inefficient. Can you imagine A) how powerfull a generator would have to be to project a magnetic field a mile in to the sky where it could effect people inside planes; B) how much EMI and other side effects you would get being near the source; and C) how much energy would be wasted through maintaining a magnetic field that is not being used to actually power anything?

 

I think the next step in batteries are larger multicell Li-poly units. They're already starting to show up in small form factors (I think the Lenovo X300 had a Li-poly 3-cell available for its drive bay battery).

 

Screw that.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/26/nuclear-powered-cellphone-battery/

The "bomb"!!!!!

 

fuel cells seems quite powerful. I have yet to consult my bro, who is doing a research on viability of fuel cells.

but he seems to tell me that a small piece of AA battery size fuel cell, can provide electricity to a tank or when packed together and with some proper circuitry, it can function as an 'electrical generator' for a whole military camp.

i have yet to find out more..

 

Nuclear powered batteries? Say goodbye to your kids

 

not necesserely, just get ready to buy unusual clothing, e.g. tops with three sleeves, jeans with a hole for tail etc..

 

Hot Swappable Batteries. The ability to change the battery w/o powering down.

 

IBM/Lenovo kind of has a solution for hot swappable batteries:
have an ultrabay battery in the bay then switch the main to switch batteries

 

Yeah it is very inefficient and dangerous. That's why I read it is still in research stage.

And I have to wonder how people can get billed