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Organic Battery Could be UPS of Future

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

August 5, 2005, 2:17 PM

Japanese electronics maker NEC said on Friday it was in the process of developing a high-power organic radical battery, or ORB, that could be used in standard desktop PCs as a built-in emergency power source in the event of a power failure.

The company says it could also be used in other ways across a variety of household appliances.

NEC originally proposed the technology that powers the battery back in 2001. To create power, an electrochemical reaction of organic radical compounds is initiated within the battery and allows it to produce a high amount of power, as well as the ability to be recharged repeatedly without power loss.

In tests, the battery was able to successfully power-down a test PC running at an average power of 96 watts. According to tests by NEC, 1.7 watt-hours of energy are required to power a 100-watt PC for 60 seconds. A single ORB battery, weighing only 88 grams, can produce one watt-hour of energy at 100 watts.

The battery is connected to the power source of the computer and will automatically turn on and start a shutdown process when it detects a loss of power or voltage drop.

NEC also offered other advantages to the technology, such as its environmentally safe composition and the fact that the materials within the battery are both non-flammable and non-explosive, unlike other batteries.

NEC said it believes that the market for backup sources of power will grow as society becomes increasingly dependent on computers, and the company will accelerate research and development into the technology. Also NEC will begin to test the market feasibility of the product.

No date was given, however, on commercial availability of the technology.

Add a Comment (14 Comments)

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By Rawsome

edited Aug 7, 2005 - 9:16 AM

I wonder how the ORB's efficiency compares against ElectroVaya's? Namely, Organic Radical Battery versus Lithium-ion SuperPolymer 470 watt hours per litre. As far as I can tell the ORB has a small capacity but is able to discharge proportionately large quantity of watts. For example the ORB has only a capacity of 1 watt hour with a discharge of 100 watts for 60 seconds.
Interesting tech, seems useful in bridging power for a temporary basis for all critical appliances.
Any hints on relative costs?

Score: 0

By eldon

edited Dec 21, 2005 - 7:40 PM

Articles on this refer to the small size - 30 microns or thereabouts. Is this the smallest they can get it or is it a design limit on the maximum size?
How does the cost compare per kWh of storage to other battery types?

Score: 0

By Hellgod77

posted Aug 7, 2005 - 2:11 PM

damn i wanna use them for the power cells on my car amp's!

Score: 0

By freeafrog

posted Aug 7, 2005 - 9:21 AM

I live in a rural area where I get power drops frequently, the last thing I need is to have the system shutting down constantly. I need a source that maintains a minimum level of voltage not a shutdown.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Aug 7, 2005 - 10:25 PM

Right on the money. Power flickers are so common in my area that this kinda of device would make the PC unusable. Good idea, but automatic shutdown isn't the only solution. I've been considering integrating my UPS into a custom case for a while - only thing holding me back is the clever safety circuitry from Liebert. :P

Score: 0

By iamtux

posted Aug 7, 2005 - 12:05 AM

This is incredible. I could seriously see this selling and becoming a must-have for home and enterprise environments!

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Aug 6, 2005 - 4:36 AM

Woah...Neoprimal is right. Depending on their size and cost, you could stick like 12 of them inside a large flashlight.

Can anyone say "spotlight"? :P

Score: 0

By Neoprimal

posted Aug 6, 2005 - 3:50 AM

You also seem to be forgetting that it's a test....and it's a single 88 gram battery. Imagine 10 or 15 of them stacked together?
LOTS of other applications for the battery. Imagine external hard drives that run on one instead of a power supply (no AC adapter, just the battery and the 5v coming from USB 2). 1 battery could also run really big flashlights for very long (though I doubt they'll use em in flashlights).
A host of uses.
Depends on the price now...

Score: 0

By smpita

posted Aug 5, 2005 - 6:45 PM

How many computers do you have with 100 watt power supplies? This battery would only sustain the 100 watt computer for 35 seconds if it takes 1.7 watt hours to power a 100 watt computer for 60 seconds. My desktop acts flaky with less than 400 watts coming from the power supply so if I had this battery in my desktop, I'd get about 8.8 seconds to shut down.

Before I'd consider using this as my UPS, they'd have to put at least 6 or 8 of these battery cells in before I'd even consider buying. Let's hope these numbers improve as development continues.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Aug 6, 2005 - 6:36 PM

Oviously, you would need a larger battery for the higher-end systems, but the specs they gave were for only one battery. I'm assuming you could have any number hooked up so that you can meet your computer's power demands.

Score: 0

By Kramy

edited Aug 5, 2005 - 7:10 PM

Ahh, but you're forgetting that if your load your system with a top of the line AMD processor, 2 RAID-0'd HD's, a 7800GTX, and some nice 2.8v memory(aswell as a high quality 520W PSU), that that dream machine is still only using about 230-260W.

Newer comps are getting so bloody efficient - my 1.8ghz AMD Athlon XP 2800+ is maxing my 350W PSU out.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Aug 5, 2005 - 4:25 PM

Just hook two up and set your computer to hibernate when the power goes off.

Sounds good to me! :)

Score: 0

By Maxwolf

posted Aug 5, 2005 - 3:37 PM

This is some sweet news. Only 88 grams, that output is amazing for that size!

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Aug 5, 2005 - 2:50 PM

"The battery is connected to the power source of the computer and will automatically turn on and start a shutdown process when it detects a loss of power or voltage drop."

That would perfectly complement solid state flash hard drives in desktops.

Score: 0

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