Sep 23 2008
mPhase Technologies, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary AlwaysReady, Inc., today announced that the company has produced compact reserve lithium battery prototypes with a manually activated breakable separator capable of powering a high-intensity emergency flashlight for more than two hours continuously at full brightness. The work was done in conjunction with a respected battery design and development firm. mPhase is pursuing the concept of using a reserve battery with a breakable separator in a high-intensity emergency flashlight either as the primary power supply or as a reliable source of backup power. Cylindrical and planar battery and flashlight designs are possible. These flashlights may be equipped with either a krypton bulb or light emitting diode (LED), the choice depending on the required brightness and runtime characteristics.
A manually activated breakable separator technology that is analogous to that of the mPhase/AlwaysReady Smart NanoBattery with the patented electrowettable membrane, both of which keep the liquid electrolyte separate from the solid electrodes until the battery is actually needed. This provides a battery with potentially infinite shelf-life that will not lose power while sitting on the shelf or in storage. Whereas the electrowettable membrane is activated by applying a voltage at the interface between the liquid and membrane surface, the breakable separator is manually activated through a well-defined physical force. The result in both cases is that the liquid electrolyte mixes with the solid electrodes thus releasing the stored energy and 3 volts of power when lithium chemistry is employed.
"By working with an experienced battery designer and developer, we were able to rapidly transform our ideas into practice for packaging and trigging a reserve-style lithium battery for a consumer application like an emergency flashlight. We see this as a big step forward in getting a product to market enabled by our unique technology," said Ron Durando, CEO of mPhase.
mPhase recently announced that it has become a recipient of a Phase II $749,700 grant from the US Army for continued development of a reserve Smart NanoBattery for a critical computer memory application.