This year at CES in Las Vegas, Panasonic is introducing a new type of flexible lithium-ion battery that could be used in wearables and IoT devices.
Panasonic's Flexible Battery
According to Spectrum IEEE, the razor-thin silver wafer of the new type of battery still maintain an 80 percent of its capacity if it is twisted or bent 1,000 times. At CES 2017, Panasonic presented three versions of the new flexible battery for wearables. Each of the three versions of the new Panasonic battery is bendy enough to fit around a soda can, contours and slightly smaller than a credit card.
The smallest prototype of the flexible Panasonic battery is 28.5 mm by 39 mm, the medium size is 35 mm by 55 mm and the largest is 40 mm by 65 mm. The batteries output 3.8 volts and weigh just a gram or two. All three are considerably thinner than a credit card, being only 0.45 mm thick. They can be twisted to an angle of 25 degrees and bent up to a radius of 25 mm.
Future Applications Of Panasonic Flexible Batteries
According to Computerworld, Panasonic's flexible lithium ion battery means more freedom for designers of wearable devices. Up to date, the design of wearables has been constrained by the need for inflexible areas in order to hold the battery.
The new Panasonic flexible batteries are small enough to be embedded inside credit cards or other similar sized systems. Up to date, because of the twisting and flexing they face from being in a wallet, batteries currently used in such cards degrade faster than normal. The new batteries will suffer from the same problems.
Panasonic is among the world's largest makers of lithium ion batteries. The company produces battery cells for numerous applications, from batteries used in electric cars to consumer AA cells. Currently, Panasonic is in a high-profile partnership with American car maker Tesla. The battery maker will supply batteries for Tesla cars from the custom built Gigafactory located in Nevada.
