The Top 10 Most Popular Power Management News Stories of 2012
Here in reverse order are the top ten Power Management news stories of 2012. If you missed these stories the first time round here is your chance to catch
up with the rest of eeNews Europe Power Management’s readers.
10. BMW brings plug-in hybrid roadster to the extremes
At the Beijing Auto Show 2012, BMW showed for the first time a two-seater sports car with hybrid electric drive. The vehicle exhibits rather extreme features and can be regarded as an example for what is possible today with a perfect blend of mechanics, electronics and smart connectivity.
9. Atomic layer deposition enables high efficiency silicon nanorod solar cells
Picosun Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment, reported final results of the European Union 7th Framework Programme funded research project ROD-SOL. The goal of this multinational, inter-European, three year (2009-2011) project, combining the efforts of both scientific and industrial partners, has been to dramatically increase the efficiency of solar cells and reduce the costs of their manufacturing.
8. New all-solid-state, rechargeable battery technology claims record energy density
Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS) developed of a new all-solid-state rechargeable battery technology with low manufacturing costs and record energy density.
7. TI’s new Wolverine microcontroller platform slashes power by 50 percent
Texas Instruments Incorporated unveiled a feature-packed MSP430 microcontroller platform with the aim of pushing ultra-low-power limits, bringing consumers one step closer to a battery-free world.
6. Wearable human motion energy harvester
A team from Riga Technical University, Latvia designed a "Human Motion Energy Harvester for Wearable Applications". The design consists of a jacket with an electrical generator. The team’s human motion energy harvester is contained within clothing to generate energy from human movement.
5. Graphene supercapacitor holding promise for portable electronics
Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, differ from regular capacitors that you would find in your TV or computer in that they store sustantially higher amounts of charges. They have garnered attention as energy storage devices as they charge and discharge faster than batteries, yet they are still limited by low energy densities, only a fraction of the energy density of batteries.
4. Supercapacitors can take market share from lithium batteries, says IDTechEx
Market research analyst, IDTechEx, focused on the power management options being posed by the fact that portable devices are increasingly becoming multifunctional.
3. Double-layer capacitor powers start-stop system
Driving into third place was a news item about start-stop systems for hybrid and micro hybrid cars that are among the most efficient approaches to reduce a vehicle’s fuel consumption. This holds true in particular for commercial vehicles used in intra-urban goods transport. The downside of such systems is that they expose the vehicle’s power supply to significant stress – after all, the cranking motor draws up to 600A when starting up the engine. Continental developed a start-stop system that complements the battery by a dual-layer capacitor.
2. Zinc dyes point way to renewable photovoltaic devices
The runner-up for 2012 is the research team at the University of Basel in Switzerland who claimed a new approach to creating sustainable and renewable photovoltaic devices.
1. Next generation ultracapacitor technology promises high performance energy storage benefits
The top prize for 2012 goes to news analysis article written by eeNews Europe Power Management’s editor, Paul Buckley (Ed: Don’t let it go to your head old boy) who found out more about the Ioxus Inc’s new iCAP 3,000 Farad ultracapacitor by talking to Chad Hall who is Vice President of Sales for Ioxus Inc and one of the founders of the company. The new device claimed to represent the lowest weight, lowest equivalent series resistance (ESR) and highest power density ultracapacitor available in the market for energy storage cells.
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