mPhase Technologies, Inc., today said that the new subsidiary it announced last week, AlwaysReady, Inc. is poised to transform homeland security, among other markets.
The combination of the sensitivity of the company's magnetometer and the long shelf life of its Smart Nanobattery will enable inexpensive networks of sensors potentially able to detect bombs, metal guns and other masses of magnetic metals. "These products can save lives," said Ron Durando, President and CEO of mPhase Technologies. "AlwaysReady will be well equipped to bring major transformations to market."
AlwaysReady will have a number of exceptional advantages in its two initial products: a "smart" nanobattery capable of producing current on demand after long term storage, as well as a family of uncooled magnetometers, including ultra sensitive versions capable of hundreds of times' improvement in sensitivity over currently available designs.
1. The novel architecture design for a rechargeable micro-reserve power cell is based on nanotechnology and MEMs fabrication, which AlwaysReady will bring to market. The nanobattery technology being developed at mPhase is the first step in the company's vision of providing the industry with new approaches to portable power design.
2. Electronic device designers will be able to re-think their traditional approaches to designing the future generations of electronic products by incorporating technologies such as the power supplies into the systems as an integral part of the design rather than as an afterthought.
3. The fundamental concepts behind the company's MEMs magnetometer set the stage for high levels of performance, reduced size and low power consumption, allowing multiple market transformations. Magnetometers detect changes or disturbances in magnetic fields and when used in network configurations can derive information on properties such as direction, presence, rotation, angle, or presence of electrical currents. They make excellent sensors for a wide range of applications.
An immediate defense and security application for the nanobattery is as an energy source to power remote sensors in areas lacking electricity. mPhase has produced the first core components of a sensor package, technically referred to as a magnetometer that is predicted to be many times more sensitive than commercially-available uncooled sensors used in metal detectors. Acting much like a miniature tuning fork or oscillator, with movements only perceptible under a microscope, it is designed to detect changes in magnetic fields and can be used in applications to establish direction of movement of magnetic objects - ideal for defense and perimeter security.
mPhase for some time now has had a multi-pronged effort under way with its partners to commercialize a battery that is built on a microscopic nanostructured architecture. mPhase has proven it is possible to fabricate nanotech-based "smart" batteries, which can store reserve power for decades and generate electric current virtually on demand.
The prototype battery was based on a discovery that liquid droplets of electrolyte will stay in a dormant state atop microscopic structures called "nanograss" until stimulated to flow, thereby triggering a reaction producing electricity. This super-hydrophobic effect of liquids can permit precise control and activation of the batteries when required.