The Secret Revolution in Battery Technology: 3-D Printing (msn.com) 28
"There's a revolution in battery technology hiding in plain sight," reports The Wall Street Journal. "The 3-D printing of batteries has the potential to put energy storage inside any device.
"This will enable lightweight and long-lasting consumer gadgets, long-range military drones and even nanoscale robots." Almost all the innovations we regularly hear about — from cheaper, tougher electric-vehicle batteries to "Holy Grail" solid-state batteries — are about changing the chemistry of batteries. The promise of battery-tech 3-D printing (aka additive manufacturing) is simple: What if batteries could fill any available space, even structural elements of our gadgets, rather than always taking a rigid shape like a pouch or cylinder?
The new approach has obvious appeal. The entire airframe of a drone could be filled with energy storage for increased range. Smartglasses could have sleek battery-packed frames, so they look like everyday eyewear rather than "Revenge of the Nerds" props. One of the biggest advantages of 3-D printing is that it works with any battery, regardless of its cell chemistry. It could advance today's lithium-ion as well as emerging sodium-ion and solid-state tech... Some [startups] are trying to use 3-D printing to create efficiencies in existing battery manufacturing systems. A brave handful of startups are pursuing radical new designs and approaches. They're starting with defense applications, where cost and scale are less of an issue...
At Silicon Valley-based Sakuu... [r]ather than trying to 3-D-print whole batteries, the company is working on replacing one of battery manufacturing's biggest pain points, says Arwed Niestroj, Sakuu's chief operating officer, who is also a nuclear physicist and former head of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America. Existing battery assembly lines include football-field-long ovens for drying layers of material that have been dissolved in solvents. This requires a huge amount of energy and is a significant contributor to manufacturing costs, a big reason EV batteries aren't cheaper. Sakuu's process, under development for years, uses additive manufacturing to lay down key battery components without solvents, eliminating the need for ovens, says Niestroj.
Sakuu is currently working to commercialize this tech with a major battery manufacturer...
"This will enable lightweight and long-lasting consumer gadgets, long-range military drones and even nanoscale robots." Almost all the innovations we regularly hear about — from cheaper, tougher electric-vehicle batteries to "Holy Grail" solid-state batteries — are about changing the chemistry of batteries. The promise of battery-tech 3-D printing (aka additive manufacturing) is simple: What if batteries could fill any available space, even structural elements of our gadgets, rather than always taking a rigid shape like a pouch or cylinder?
The new approach has obvious appeal. The entire airframe of a drone could be filled with energy storage for increased range. Smartglasses could have sleek battery-packed frames, so they look like everyday eyewear rather than "Revenge of the Nerds" props. One of the biggest advantages of 3-D printing is that it works with any battery, regardless of its cell chemistry. It could advance today's lithium-ion as well as emerging sodium-ion and solid-state tech... Some [startups] are trying to use 3-D printing to create efficiencies in existing battery manufacturing systems. A brave handful of startups are pursuing radical new designs and approaches. They're starting with defense applications, where cost and scale are less of an issue...
At Silicon Valley-based Sakuu... [r]ather than trying to 3-D-print whole batteries, the company is working on replacing one of battery manufacturing's biggest pain points, says Arwed Niestroj, Sakuu's chief operating officer, who is also a nuclear physicist and former head of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America. Existing battery assembly lines include football-field-long ovens for drying layers of material that have been dissolved in solvents. This requires a huge amount of energy and is a significant contributor to manufacturing costs, a big reason EV batteries aren't cheaper. Sakuu's process, under development for years, uses additive manufacturing to lay down key battery components without solvents, eliminating the need for ovens, says Niestroj.
Sakuu is currently working to commercialize this tech with a major battery manufacturer...
Re: (Score:2)
"long-lasting consumer gadgets" - yeah right. Who believes this shit?
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The best part is that you can pack them in your luggage and get them into the hold.
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So every battery is unique and impossible to find replacements for. Hard pass.
But you don't understand, it saves 5% of the weight!
And physics (or Apple marketing) has proven that no consumer openable container can be water tight. it's IMPOSSIBLE!
drone battery size (Score:5, Insightful)
The entire airframe of a drone could be filled with energy storage for increased range.
Aren't drone ranges largely limited by weight instead of battery storage space?
Re:drone battery size (Score:5, Interesting)
Aren't drone ranges largely limited by weight instead of battery storage space?
Generally, yes. It may make some sense for aerodynamic winged drones, but those generally just use some type of gasoline / jet fuel.
It could make sense for race or other high speed drones like interceptors, where aerodynamic drag is a big factor.
For consumer electronics the legal requirement that batteries must be user replaceable renders this idea dead in the water in the entire EU.
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Are phones excluded from this law?
Not that easy to put things in 3d prints (Score:2)
The batteries would have to be specially designed to fit in the 3d print. 3d printing by itself is both slower and more expensive than injection molding (unless it is a small run). Throw in custom batteries are you are probably making the items 10x more expensive for a moderate sized job. Economies of scale might work for something we are making in the tens of thousands.
Re: (Score:3)
You seem to have misunderstood.
The claim here is the battery cells are themselves 3D printed, not that they are stuffing already made cells into a 3D printed object. The batteries would not have to "fit in" the 3D print, they would be the 3D print.
So it's actually dumber than you thought.
=Smidge=
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Well, that's convenient (Score:5, Insightful)
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Luckily, the big news here is not that the battery shape can be anything but rather that there is a huge reduction in electricity needed to manufacture the battery. Pity that wasn't the headline.
Re: (Score:2)
You say there "is" a huge reduction in electricity needed.
However, the words, "is currently working to commercialize this tech" means we, and they, have no idea yet what the energy savings actually will be, if there are any. There may be. There may not be. And if it's more expensive, which remains possible, it doesn't even matter.
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LOL. Whether it works out or not has nothing to do with this conversation.
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Well, if the battery is 3d printed to fill the chassis most of the failure states result in a 10,000 degree fire, so you may not even need to throw it away, it may simply vaporize.
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>"So when the battery dies, you can throw the whole device away!"
Indeed. And then it is also extremely difficult to try and recover the battery for recycling, as well, I assume.
So these devices become toxic, non-reusable, non-fixable, highly flammable, dangerous messes.
Get your free bottle of snake oil while you can (Score:1)
Invest your money in this ingenious idea and get rich quick!
Cost (Score:2)
How much do the printer cartridges cost?
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How much do the printer cartridges cost?
Don't worry, you'll also be able to 3-D print the cartridges - along with the printer. :-)
[Like with the turtles [wikipedia.org], it'll be 3-D printing all the way down.]
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Filament spools, not cartridges. It is a 3D printer after all. The main question is - can it be printed without an enclosure? Asking for an Ender 3.
Thin lithium ion battery risks (Score:2)
Doesn't the risk of damaging the cell and causing a fire go up as you make the battery thinner?
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Maybe for something dispoable (Score:1)
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not sure what you man by battery technology being junk.
Current batteries are awesome. Remember NiCad ? What's NOT awesome is manufacturers making them non-replaceable to save a few grams and $ and claiming it's because of "water resistance".
And, imo the toothbrushes are the same. i've been happy with the Oral-b ones (also induction.. though after a year or two already shorter battery life than when new), but there's no reason why it can't have some sort of screw on mechanism and use some standard
Sweet... (Score:1)
Late to the party (Score:3)
Tesla has already solved the
Existing battery assembly lines include football-field-long ovens for drying layers of material that have been dissolved in solvents.
problem and now using dry process for anode and cathode at scale with their 4680 cells.
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Cylindrical cells are not the future though, they are older tech and have proven to be largely inferior to prismatic and blade batteries. Prismatic cells for lower cost and higher energy density, blade batteries for extreme performance. Tesla is using older chemistry too.
Ok, but ProLogium solved this and other probs (Score:2)