ACADEMIA

Infinite Power Solutions announced it has achieved record-breaking cycle life performance of 75,000 full battery cycles on production cells, substantially beyond that of any other lithium-based rechargeable battery currently on the market. Today's announcement marks a new technology milestone for the rechargeable battery industry as IPS demonstrates the significant recharge capabilities of its paper-thin and eco-friendly THINERGY Micro-Energy Cell (MEC) products. Moreover, this latest achievement further validates how powerful and long-lasting MECs represent a transformational technology that fundamentally changes the way power source for wireless sensors and other micro-electronic products can and will be designed in the future.

After more than two years of testing, IPS reports it has demonstrated industry-leading cycle capability of 75,000 full depth of discharge (100-percent DoD) battery cycles at 25 degrees C with a 10 C-rate discharge and 6 C-rate recharge, maintaining 65-percent of the initial capacity, as verified at the capacity-defining 1/2 C-rate discharge. The company tested production 0.7mAh, one square-inch rechargeable cells, one of the largest cells in the THINERGY MEC standard product family. During the same test and under the same conditions, 40,000 cycles were demonstrated with 80-percent of the capacity maintained. In comparison, other rechargeable batteries, such as Li-ion, Li-polymer and NiMH cells, are usually cycled at 25 degrees C to 100-percent DOD and typically achieve around 500 cycles with 80-percent capacity retention. Therefore, THINERGY MECs have been demonstrated to cycle more than 80 times than that of traditional rechargeable batteries.

Dr. Jay Whitacre, founder and chief technology officer at Aquion Energy, as well as assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), performed an independent review of the MEC cycle life data. Whitacre is a physicist and materials scientist with substantial battery expertise. During his years at CMU, and while working at Jet Propulsion Laboratories (Mars Science Laboratory Rover program), Dr. Whitacre developed a variety of battery technologies, including advanced solid-state, rechargeable thin-film batteries. "A compact, robust and highly reversible battery chemistry is enabling for many emerging technologies," Whitacre stated. IPS has demonstrated unprecedented cycle life performance with its production-validated THINERGY MECs, and I congratulate the company for this incredible achievement. The results indicate that these production batteries, and the products they power, should demonstrate best-in-class lifetime performance."

Currently, IPS conservatively specifies the cycle life of its MEC standard products to 10,000 cycles at 100-percent DOD, and 100,000 cycles at 10-percent DOD with 80-percent initial capacity retention. In contrast, other competing solid-state, thin-film batteries specify 1,000 cycles at 50-percent DOD (a far less stressful test using only half the capacity) on cells with much less initial capacity and deliver only a fraction of the performance and battery life of a THINERGY MEC.

Commenting on this milestone, Dr. Bernd Neudecker, IPS' chief technology officer, noted, "This unparalleled cycle life performance was achieved using our unique battery architecture, solid-state electrolyte and proprietary manufacturing process. Our MEC products are the world's most powerful batteries for their size, and thanks to their incredible cycle life, will deliver tens of ampere hours over their lifetime. These 'batteries for life' enable permanent integration into countless current and future electronic products."

IPS' Vice President of Manufacturing, Robert Smith, added, "When it comes to small, permanent batteries like our MECs, cycle life is extremely critical, as the cell may need to be recharged multiple times per day. This is especially true in self-powered systems where ambient energy harvesters are used for continuous recharge." He continued, "I am proud of our manufacturing team for having developed a proprietary and repeatable process to consistently achieve outstanding cycle life and industry leading performance for our customers."

IPS' award-winning THINERGY MECs are high-performance 4V energy storage devices that deliver high energy density, high current and unprecedented cycle life in a small, 170um thin form factor. These MECs provide an alternative to bulky and short-lived conventional (organic, wet chemistry) batteries and supercapacitors in applications where minimum volume, maximum energy density and long service life is critical. When combined with circuits that harvest ambient energy (e.g. solar, vibration, thermal and radio frequency), THINERGY MECs can be perpetually recharged to power wireless sensors and other low-power devices--providing an inherently safe and sustainable clean energy source that will last the life of a system with no maintenance or replacement cost.

IPS will be demonstrating its THINERGY MEC products at the Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe 2012 conference, which is being held May 15-16, 2012 in Berlin. The company will also be exhibiting at the Sensors Expo & Conference June 6-7, 2012 in Rosemont, Ill. at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Editors interested in meeting with IPS executives to learn more about IPS and its energy storage technology can contact Terri Sundseth.