Pop believes that, along with improvements in display technology, the nanotube PCM memory could increase an iPhone's energy efficiency so it could run for a longer time on a smaller battery, or even to the point where it could run simply by harvesting its own thermal, mechanical or solar energy -- no battery required.
And device junkies will not be the only beneficiaries.
"We're not just talking about lightening our pockets or purses," Pop said. "This is also important for anything that has to operate on a battery, such as satellites, telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or any number of scientific and military applications."
In addition, ultra-low-power memory could cut the energy consumption -- and thus the expense -- of data storage or supercomputing centers by a large percentage. The low-power memory could also enable three-dimensional integration, a stacking of chips that has eluded researchers because of fabrication and heat problems.
The team has made and tested a few hundred bits so far, and they want to scale up production to create arrays of memory bits that operate together. They also hope to achieve greater data density through clever programming such that each physical PCM bit can program two data bits, called multibit memory.
Technophiles who have been dreaming of mobile devices that run longer on lighter, slimmer batteries may soon find their wish has been granted.
University of Illinois engineers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than similar available memory. The technology could give future portable devices much longer laptop battery life between charges.
Led by electrical and computer engineering professor Eric Pop, the team will publish its results in an upcoming issue of Science magazine and online in the March 10 Science Express.
"I think anyone who is dealing with a lot of chargers and plugging things in every night can relate to wanting a cell phone or laptop whose batteries can last for weeks or months," said Pop, who is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois.
The flash memory used in mobile devices today stores bits as charge, which requires high programming voltages and is relatively slow. Industry has been exploring faster, but higher power phase-change materials (PCM) as an alternative. In PCM memory a bit is stored in the resistance of the material, which is switchable.
Pop's group lowered the power per bit to 100 times less than existing PCM memory by focusing on one simple, yet key factor: size.
Rather than the metal wires standard in industry, the group used carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes only a few nanometers in diameter -- 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.
"The energy consumption is essentially scaled with the volume of the memory bit," said graduate student Feng Xiong, the first author of the paper. "By using nanoscale contacts, we are able to achieve much smaller power consumption."
To create a bit, the researchers place a small amount of PCM in a nanoscale gap formed in the middle of a carbon nanotube. They can switch the bit "on" and "off" by passing small currents through the nanotube.
"Carbon nanotubes are the smallest known electronic conductors," Pop said. "They are better than any metal at delivering a little jolt of electricity to zap the PCM bit."
Nanotubes also boast an extraordinary stability, as they are not susceptible to the degradation that can plague metal wires. In addition, the PCM that functions as the actual bit is immune to accidental erasure from a passing scanner or magnet.
The low-power PCM bits could be used in existing devices with a significant increase in battery life. Right now, a smart phone uses about a watt of energy and a laptop runs on more than 25 watts. Some of that energy goes to the display, but an increasing percentage is dedicated to memory.
"Anytime you're running an app, or storing MP3s, or streaming videos, it's draining the battery," said Albert Liao, a graduate student and co-author. "The memory and the processor are working hard retrieving data. As people use their phones to place calls less and use them for computing more, improving the data storage and retrieval operations is important."
The team is continuing to work to reduce power consumption and increase energy efficiency even beyond the groundbreaking savings they've already demonstrated.
"Even though we've taken one technology and shown that it can be improved by a factor of 100, we have not yet reached what is physically possible. We have not even tested the limits yet. I think we could lower power by at least another factor of 10," Pop said.
The work was supported in part by the Marco Focus Center Research Program, a Semiconductor Research Corporation entity, and by the Office of Naval Research. Graduate student David Estrada was also a co-author.
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2011年3月31日星期四
2011年3月30日星期三
Increasing Energy Storage
Though considered a promising large-scale energy storage device, the vanadium redox battery's use has been limited by its inability to work well in a wide range of temperatures and its high cost. But new research indicates that modifying the battery's electrolyte solution significantly improves its performance. So much so that the upgraded battery could improve the electric grid's reliability and help connect more wind turbines and solar panels to the grid.
In a paper published by the journal Advanced Energy Materials, researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that adding hydrochloric acid to the sulfuric acid typically used in vanadium batteries increased the batteries' energy storage capacity by 70 percent and expanded the temperature range in which they operate.
"Our small adjustments greatly improve the vanadium redox battery," said lead author and PNNL chemist Liyu Li. "And with just a little more work, the laptop battery could potentially increase the use of wind, solar and other renewable power sources across the electric grid."
Unlike traditional power, which is generated in a reliable, consistent stream of electricity by controlling how much coal is burned or water is sent through dam turbines, renewable power production depends on uncontrollable natural phenomena such as sunshine and wind. Storing electricity can help smooth out the intermittency of renewable power while also improving the reliability of the electric grid that transmits it. Vanadium batteries can hold on to renewable power until people turn on their lights and run their dishwashers. Other benefits of vanadium batteries include high efficiency and the ability to quickly generate power when it's needed as well as sit idle for long periods of time without losing storage capacity.
A vanadium battery is a type of flow battery, meaning it generates power by pumping liquid from external tanks to the battery's central stack, or a chamber where the liquids are mixed. The tanks contain electrolytes, which are liquids that conduct electricity. One tank has the positively-charged vanadium ion V5+ floating in its electrolyte. And the other tank holds an electrolyte full of a different vanadium ion, V2+. When energy is needed, pumps move the ion-saturated electrolyte from both tanks into the stack, where a chemical reaction causes the ions to change their charge, creating electricity.
To charge the battery, electricity is sent to the vanadium battery's stack. This causes another reaction that restores the original charge of vanadium ions. The electrical energy is converted into chemical energy stored in the vanadium ions. The electrolytes with their respective ions are pumped back into to their tanks, where they wait until electricity is needed and the cycle is started again.
A battery's capacity to generate electricity is limited by how many ions it can pack into the electrolyte. Vanadium batteries traditionally use pure sulfuric acid for their electrolyte. But sulfuric acid can only absorb so many vanadium ions.
Another drawback is that sulfuric acid-based vanadium batteries only work between about 50 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 40 Celsius). Below that temperature range, the ion-infused sulfuric acid crystallizes. The larger concern, however, is the battery overheating, which causes an unwanted solid to form and renders the battery useless. To regulate the temperature, air conditioners or circulating cooling water are used, which causes up to 20 percent energy loss and significantly increasing the battery's operating cost, the researchers noted.
Wanting to improve the battery's performance, Li and his colleagues began searching for a new electrolyte. They tried a pure hydrochloric acid electrolyte, but found it caused one of the vanadium ions to form an unwanted solid. Next, they experimented with various mixtures of both hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. PNNL scientists found the ideal balance when they mixed 6 parts hydrochloric acid with 2.5 parts sulfuric acid. They verified the electrolyte and ion molecules present in the solution with a nuclear magnetic resonance instrument and the Chinook supercomputer at EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL.
Tests showed that the new electrolyte mixture could hold 70 percent more vanadium ions, making the battery's electricity capacity 70 percent higher. The discovery means that smaller tanks can be used to generate the same amount of power as larger tanks filled with the old electrolyte.
And the new mixture allowed the battery to work in both warmer and colder temperatures, between 23 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to 50 Celsius), greatly reducing the need for costly cooling systems. At room temperature, a battery with the new electrolyte mixture maintained an 87 percent energy efficiency rate for 20 days, which is about the same efficiency of the old solution.
The results are promising, but more research is needed, the authors noted. The battery's stack and overall physical structure could be improved to increase power generation and decrease cost.
"Vanadium redox batteries have been around for more than 20 years, but their use has been limited by a relatively narrow temperature range," Li said. "Something as simple as adjusting the batteries' electrolyte means they can be used in more places without having to divert power output to regulate heat."
This research was supported by DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and internal PNNL funding.
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In a paper published by the journal Advanced Energy Materials, researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that adding hydrochloric acid to the sulfuric acid typically used in vanadium batteries increased the batteries' energy storage capacity by 70 percent and expanded the temperature range in which they operate.
"Our small adjustments greatly improve the vanadium redox battery," said lead author and PNNL chemist Liyu Li. "And with just a little more work, the laptop battery could potentially increase the use of wind, solar and other renewable power sources across the electric grid."
Unlike traditional power, which is generated in a reliable, consistent stream of electricity by controlling how much coal is burned or water is sent through dam turbines, renewable power production depends on uncontrollable natural phenomena such as sunshine and wind. Storing electricity can help smooth out the intermittency of renewable power while also improving the reliability of the electric grid that transmits it. Vanadium batteries can hold on to renewable power until people turn on their lights and run their dishwashers. Other benefits of vanadium batteries include high efficiency and the ability to quickly generate power when it's needed as well as sit idle for long periods of time without losing storage capacity.
A vanadium battery is a type of flow battery, meaning it generates power by pumping liquid from external tanks to the battery's central stack, or a chamber where the liquids are mixed. The tanks contain electrolytes, which are liquids that conduct electricity. One tank has the positively-charged vanadium ion V5+ floating in its electrolyte. And the other tank holds an electrolyte full of a different vanadium ion, V2+. When energy is needed, pumps move the ion-saturated electrolyte from both tanks into the stack, where a chemical reaction causes the ions to change their charge, creating electricity.
To charge the battery, electricity is sent to the vanadium battery's stack. This causes another reaction that restores the original charge of vanadium ions. The electrical energy is converted into chemical energy stored in the vanadium ions. The electrolytes with their respective ions are pumped back into to their tanks, where they wait until electricity is needed and the cycle is started again.
A battery's capacity to generate electricity is limited by how many ions it can pack into the electrolyte. Vanadium batteries traditionally use pure sulfuric acid for their electrolyte. But sulfuric acid can only absorb so many vanadium ions.
Another drawback is that sulfuric acid-based vanadium batteries only work between about 50 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 40 Celsius). Below that temperature range, the ion-infused sulfuric acid crystallizes. The larger concern, however, is the battery overheating, which causes an unwanted solid to form and renders the battery useless. To regulate the temperature, air conditioners or circulating cooling water are used, which causes up to 20 percent energy loss and significantly increasing the battery's operating cost, the researchers noted.
Wanting to improve the battery's performance, Li and his colleagues began searching for a new electrolyte. They tried a pure hydrochloric acid electrolyte, but found it caused one of the vanadium ions to form an unwanted solid. Next, they experimented with various mixtures of both hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. PNNL scientists found the ideal balance when they mixed 6 parts hydrochloric acid with 2.5 parts sulfuric acid. They verified the electrolyte and ion molecules present in the solution with a nuclear magnetic resonance instrument and the Chinook supercomputer at EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL.
Tests showed that the new electrolyte mixture could hold 70 percent more vanadium ions, making the battery's electricity capacity 70 percent higher. The discovery means that smaller tanks can be used to generate the same amount of power as larger tanks filled with the old electrolyte.
And the new mixture allowed the battery to work in both warmer and colder temperatures, between 23 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to 50 Celsius), greatly reducing the need for costly cooling systems. At room temperature, a battery with the new electrolyte mixture maintained an 87 percent energy efficiency rate for 20 days, which is about the same efficiency of the old solution.
The results are promising, but more research is needed, the authors noted. The battery's stack and overall physical structure could be improved to increase power generation and decrease cost.
"Vanadium redox batteries have been around for more than 20 years, but their use has been limited by a relatively narrow temperature range," Li said. "Something as simple as adjusting the batteries' electrolyte means they can be used in more places without having to divert power output to regulate heat."
This research was supported by DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and internal PNNL funding.
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2011年3月29日星期二
3-D smartphones
Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- After a lukewarm reception from television buyers, 3-D technology is pushing its way onto small screens.
As Nintendo plans to launch with the first major gadget that can show three-dimension visuals without the need for special glasses in the U.S. on Sunday, two large Asian electronics manufacturers are following suit.
HTC has unveiled the EVO 3D, a follow-up to Sprint Nextel's breakout smartphone. It has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which can display eye-popping 3-D without needing glasses. Users will also be able to capture photos and videos in 3-D using a pair of cameras on the back.
Like the original EVO, the 3D version will run Google's Android operating system and connect to Sprint Nextel's fast 4G data network.
LG Electronics has been working for a year and half on a 3-D smartphone of its own, said Yongseok Jang, the South Korean company's vice president of strategy.
The Optimus 3D, as it's been called, will launch on AT&T Mobility's network with the name Thrill 4G. AT&T says it will be available in the "coming months," and a price hasn't been set.
LG developers spent a great deal of time fine-tuning the pair of 5-megapixel cameras to accurately capture 3-D media, Jang said. Calibrating the cameras to produce good-looking stills and video is more difficult than pulling off a glasses-free display, he said.
The EVO 3D prototype we tested at the CTIA Wireless conference this week shot blurry video. HTC is still working on that aspect, which will probably take several more months to perfect, said Trevor Van Norman, a Sprint marketing director. The EVO 3D will be available this summer, he said.
Nintendo's 3DS also has a pair of cameras for capturing scenes in 3-D, and it works quite well. Being the first out of the gate to offer a mainstream glasses-free 3-D gadget, Nintendo expected to find competitors, and it soon did when LG announced its phone.
"I wasn't frustrated or irritated by it," Hideki Konno, a Nintendo producer who played a key role on developing the 3DS, said through a translator in a recent interview. "I mean, considering the technology was out there in the world, I wasn't even really surprised by it."
The Japanese game company plans to fend off competitors by partnering with media publishers that can offer more games and movies in 3-D.
"You need not only the capabilities; you need the content," Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's president and operating chief, said in an interview. "They're not going to have the great gaming content that we have."
For their phones, LG and HTC are lobbying game developers to create 3-D software for Google's Android smartphone platform. Owners also will be able to download the thousands of games already available for Android.
LG expects to include a few games packaged with the Thrill 4G and have at least 10 games available when the device is made available to purchase, Jang said. With a team led by Jang, LG also persuaded Google to make YouTube videos produced with 3-D cameras available in a separate app and allow the phone's users to upload their own, Jang said.
"Instead of being at the mercy of Hollywood studios to bring 3-D content, why don't we enable our customers to create their own 3-D content?" Jang said. Google's YouTube team also helped LG tweak the quality of the videos produced by the phone, he said.
The EVO 3D will have about a half-dozen 3-D games at launch in addition to the full "Green Hornet" film, Van Norman said. The phone will also have the YouTube 3D application.
HTC touts on its website: "You look better without the 3D glasses," as a hand tosses a pair into a trash can. LG's initiative, too, was designed to eliminate the need for wonky glasses, Jang said.
"All our TV guys and our mobile-phone guys, we try to solve that problem -- to force people to wear glasses," Jang said. "Watching 3-D stuff should not be a sit-up experience."
Both LG and HTC are planning to debut tablet computers that can, like their phones, capture 3-D with a pair of cameras. However, the tablets require users wear dorky, two-toned glasses in order to view the 3-D content.
HTC's tablet, with its 7-inch touchscreen that requires glasses for 3-D viewing, is called the EVO View 4G and will be available on Sprint.
Jang from LG, which is bringing a tablet to T-Mobile USA's network, said implementing glasses-free 3-D on the G-Slate's 9-inch screen was "a cost issue."
However, by enabling the device to capture 3-D pictures and video, Jang hopes the excitement carries over into LG's TV business, which has struggled to sell 3-D sets.
T-Mobile, the G-Slate's exclusive carrier, believes that it's still "early days" for 3-D technology and that issues will be solved over time with new devices, said Desmond Smith, a senior product manager for the company.
Samsung Electronics hasn't ventured into the mobile 3-D territory yet. "There has been a big push for (3-D) on the TV side, but we haven't done anything on the phone side," said spokesman Kim Titus.
Omar Khan, the strategy chief for Samsung Telecommunications, said mobile devices will be more valuable in the 3-D space as a way to capture content in that format, rather than to view it. "I think it's still pretty early," he said.
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As Nintendo plans to launch with the first major gadget that can show three-dimension visuals without the need for special glasses in the U.S. on Sunday, two large Asian electronics manufacturers are following suit.
HTC has unveiled the EVO 3D, a follow-up to Sprint Nextel's breakout smartphone. It has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which can display eye-popping 3-D without needing glasses. Users will also be able to capture photos and videos in 3-D using a pair of cameras on the back.
Like the original EVO, the 3D version will run Google's Android operating system and connect to Sprint Nextel's fast 4G data network.
LG Electronics has been working for a year and half on a 3-D smartphone of its own, said Yongseok Jang, the South Korean company's vice president of strategy.
The Optimus 3D, as it's been called, will launch on AT&T Mobility's network with the name Thrill 4G. AT&T says it will be available in the "coming months," and a price hasn't been set.
LG developers spent a great deal of time fine-tuning the pair of 5-megapixel cameras to accurately capture 3-D media, Jang said. Calibrating the cameras to produce good-looking stills and video is more difficult than pulling off a glasses-free display, he said.
The EVO 3D prototype we tested at the CTIA Wireless conference this week shot blurry video. HTC is still working on that aspect, which will probably take several more months to perfect, said Trevor Van Norman, a Sprint marketing director. The EVO 3D will be available this summer, he said.
Nintendo's 3DS also has a pair of cameras for capturing scenes in 3-D, and it works quite well. Being the first out of the gate to offer a mainstream glasses-free 3-D gadget, Nintendo expected to find competitors, and it soon did when LG announced its phone.
"I wasn't frustrated or irritated by it," Hideki Konno, a Nintendo producer who played a key role on developing the 3DS, said through a translator in a recent interview. "I mean, considering the technology was out there in the world, I wasn't even really surprised by it."
The Japanese game company plans to fend off competitors by partnering with media publishers that can offer more games and movies in 3-D.
"You need not only the capabilities; you need the content," Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's president and operating chief, said in an interview. "They're not going to have the great gaming content that we have."
For their phones, LG and HTC are lobbying game developers to create 3-D software for Google's Android smartphone platform. Owners also will be able to download the thousands of games already available for Android.
LG expects to include a few games packaged with the Thrill 4G and have at least 10 games available when the device is made available to purchase, Jang said. With a team led by Jang, LG also persuaded Google to make YouTube videos produced with 3-D cameras available in a separate app and allow the phone's users to upload their own, Jang said.
"Instead of being at the mercy of Hollywood studios to bring 3-D content, why don't we enable our customers to create their own 3-D content?" Jang said. Google's YouTube team also helped LG tweak the quality of the videos produced by the phone, he said.
The EVO 3D will have about a half-dozen 3-D games at launch in addition to the full "Green Hornet" film, Van Norman said. The phone will also have the YouTube 3D application.
HTC touts on its website: "You look better without the 3D glasses," as a hand tosses a pair into a trash can. LG's initiative, too, was designed to eliminate the need for wonky glasses, Jang said.
"All our TV guys and our mobile-phone guys, we try to solve that problem -- to force people to wear glasses," Jang said. "Watching 3-D stuff should not be a sit-up experience."
Both LG and HTC are planning to debut tablet computers that can, like their phones, capture 3-D with a pair of cameras. However, the tablets require users wear dorky, two-toned glasses in order to view the 3-D content.
HTC's tablet, with its 7-inch touchscreen that requires glasses for 3-D viewing, is called the EVO View 4G and will be available on Sprint.
Jang from LG, which is bringing a tablet to T-Mobile USA's network, said implementing glasses-free 3-D on the G-Slate's 9-inch screen was "a cost issue."
However, by enabling the device to capture 3-D pictures and video, Jang hopes the excitement carries over into LG's TV business, which has struggled to sell 3-D sets.
T-Mobile, the G-Slate's exclusive carrier, believes that it's still "early days" for 3-D technology and that issues will be solved over time with new devices, said Desmond Smith, a senior product manager for the company.
Samsung Electronics hasn't ventured into the mobile 3-D territory yet. "There has been a big push for (3-D) on the TV side, but we haven't done anything on the phone side," said spokesman Kim Titus.
Omar Khan, the strategy chief for Samsung Telecommunications, said mobile devices will be more valuable in the 3-D space as a way to capture content in that format, rather than to view it. "I think it's still pretty early," he said.
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2011年3月24日星期四
Worst Laptop Brands 2011
Over the last year, we've examined every aspect of the 10 most important notebook companies. The tests we run and the conclusions we reach while spending time with individual notebooks help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of each brand. And we've listened to your praise as well as your complaints about the companies you love and the brands you don't.
145 reviews. 26 Editors' Choice winners. 392 minutes spent on the phone with technical support. Countless hours spent evaluating laptop keyboards, touchpads, pre-loaded software, and design.
The goal of all this? To help you find the perfect laptop, because a machine is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Acer, Apple, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba: We've compared each of these manufacturers across eight categories, including reviews performance, technical support, design, keyboards and touchpads, value and selection, software, innovation, and customer satisfaction. The most weight was given to the most important category: reviews. Find out which brands are on top and which ones might not deserve your money.
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145 reviews. 26 Editors' Choice winners. 392 minutes spent on the phone with technical support. Countless hours spent evaluating laptop keyboards, touchpads, pre-loaded software, and design.
The goal of all this? To help you find the perfect laptop, because a machine is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Acer, Apple, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba: We've compared each of these manufacturers across eight categories, including reviews performance, technical support, design, keyboards and touchpads, value and selection, software, innovation, and customer satisfaction. The most weight was given to the most important category: reviews. Find out which brands are on top and which ones might not deserve your money.
Dell Inspiron 15 Battery
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