The search for a bendable battery is increasingly in focus. We want to take our smart clothing and watches everywhere we go. To be able to wear them safely in a crowd while departing an ice hockey championship or a baseball match, we definitely need something with a bendable battery that can take hard knocks.
This Bendable Battery is Oh So Thin
Panasonic just announced a ‘bendable, twistable, flexible lithium-ion battery’ that appears to meet the spec, although it cannot produce enough power for a smartphone yet.
This would be too much to expect from an electricity storage unit an incredible half a millimeter / 0.022in thin. It can take repeated bending to 25 degrees.
Bendable batteries will be something to follow in the future. We know Samsung is working on a flexible phone that rolls up. Panasonic seems confident of staying ahead with pocket size card devices. Its bendable battery is on display at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba-city, Chiba Japan.
Panasonic claims the following benefits from its Lithium-Ion Bendable.
- It retains shape even after repeated bending and twisting
- This does not affect discharging and recharging patterns
- It is safe for use in devices attached to the human body.
The Panasonic bendable battery meets Japanese Industrial Standards for identification cards. The official launch date is a close guarded secret. However samples will start shipping by the end of the month for testing and consumer review.
Product development is continuing with a view to mass production. We can therefore expect devices from the internet of things and wearables to become even slimmer, although presumably not forever.
There is a debate raging concerning the theoretical maximum age for humans. 115 seeming the preferred number. Would anyone like to estimate how thin lithium-ion batteries could possibly be? Do you suppose we will ever have a smartphone that folds?
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