VIASPACE Inc.'s Energy Division exhibited its new VIASENSOR BA-1000 lithium battery test station at Caltech's Focused Battery Technology Workshop III held on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, CA on February 18-19, 2008. VIASPACE Energy has been established to accelerate the growth of its existing direct methanol fuel cell cartridge business and its new fuel cell humidity sensor product line and to pursue new opportunities identified within the $55.4 billion clean energy sector.
The company is identifying and pursuing additional business opportunities in areas including fuel cell test equipment, batteries and battery test equipment, alternative fuels, and new products to conserve energy and reduce emissions. As advances in measurement technology provide us with greater capabilities, the need for more accurate testing and monitoring of water vapor is increased. VIASPACE is leading the humidity sensing market with the recently introduced, HS-1000 and HS-2000 Humidity Sensor. These devices, provide unequalled testing and measurement accuracy, consistency, and reliability.
"Caltech has granted an exclusive license to VIASPACE that involves several new patents covering an instrument that can accurately measure the electrochemical thermodynamics in batteries. The initial VIASENSOR BA-1000 instrument that we exhibited at this workshop is focused on measuring the thermodynamics as they develop in the charge and discharge cycles of Lithium batteries," stated Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CEO of VIASPACE.
Kukkonen went on saying that "This new test system is designed to aide the research and development staffs of many universities, government labs and companies struggling to get accurate readings on the performance and volatility of batteries of various chemistries. There are global efforts underway seeking to find new formulas of lithium based chemistry that will satisfy the increasing power needs of devices including notebook computers, cellular/converged phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) while maintaining a formula that is also stable enough to pass rigorous safety tests. The next generation of the BA-1000 series will be available later this year and will provide the ability to measure a standard 18650 Lithium battery."
The voltage of a half-cell or a battery at rest, known as open circuit voltage (OCV), is measured as a function of temperature. The equilibrium open-circuit voltage is the difference in chemical potential of lithium atoms in the anode and in the cathode. By making measurements at different temperatures, the enthalpy and entropy contributions to the free energy of intercalation can be determined independently as functions of the lithium concentration.
The BA-1000:
- Tests up to four cells simultaneously.
- Has up to 1A charge/discharge capability.
- Covers a temperature range from 0C to 40C.
- Is complete with easy to use application software designed to ensure reliable data acquisition and to provide a powerful data analysis tool.
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. unveiled several new reference designs offering Wireless USB Host and Wireless USB Docking Station functionality, providing PC OEMs with the industry's widest portfolio of complete end-to-end single-vendor solutions for wirelessly connected docking stations. The RTU7305 WHCI host controller includes a PCI Express 1.1 interface, providing state-of-the-art I/O performance. Combined with the RTU7105 Native Device, this offers the industry's first end-to-end single-vendor solution with native interfaces at both ends of the link.
