Say hello to the first mass-produced bendable batteries, a pioneered product recently launched by the renowned giant of electronics, Panasonic. The company unveiled this lithium ion bendable batteries at the Japanese Technology Fair held at Ceatec.
One might get intrigued by this development, but then ponder "what good is this?" A simple answer to this is that the bendable battery can be incorporated within relatively smaller electronic systems. This includes casually wearable accessories, such as wrist watches, smart clothing and fitness bands.
This may be a definite advantage, but sophisticated and innovative technology always invites certain limitations and shortcomings which are resolved overtime. Panasonic's bendable batteries have yet to be incorporated into larger systems. As for now, their power capacity is very limited. So you can forget about using it for power-intensive smartphones at this stage.
According to BBC, experts say the new project is certainly an "exciting development" and may open up new avenues for technological advancement. However, they suggest that Panasonic isn't the first organization to have been working on bendable batteries. Other huge electronic corporations such as Samsung and LG have also been putting in a massive amount of effort to execute and deliver technology that's more flexible when it comes to screens and batteries.
So much so, we can call this an experimental phase for all electronic giants who want to push the threshold of technology to the next level. Panasonic's bendable batteries is just another complex piece within a larger abstruse jigsaw puzzle. It won't be very long until electronic consumers come across faulty prototypes built to put these efforts to the test.
That's enough analysis for us tech savvy's, at least for now. Let's move on to the technical details. Apparently, Panasonic's bendable batteries are 0.55mm with thickness of 0.022 inches. It can resist a bend for up to 25 degrees.
As far as flexibility is concerned, we often notice that smartcards that fit into our wallet's pocket have internal components capable of withstanding a certain amount of twist and bend. However, they become ineffective if they're regularly flexed. The same logic applies here, except for the fact that the company's experts have made remarks that the battery is capable of retaining its characteristics even after being flexed time and time again.
The emerging of bendable batteries could potentially beget awe-inspiringly new curved designs for electronic devices, particularly the cellular phone. Perhaps this is what all manufacturers have been craving since quite a while now. Some practical ground has been gained since curved smartphones have made their way into the market for some time now.
Despite fruitful efforts, there still remain a number of challenges before we move on to perfecting this kind of design and technology which is only an embryo at the moment. The foremost challenge is that bendable batteries alone cannot solve all the design challenges. This is because other external and internal components must also have the same bendable capacity as that of the battery in order to optimize the entire product and make it usable in the long-run.
