We have been promising exciting new battery technologies for years now that claim to dramatically increase battery life, and no one seems to be realizing it. But a new Apple patent application describes a simple way to achieve a valuable increase in battery life with nothing more technological than a metal housing.
The invention is a bit ironic, as it solves a problem that Apple originally created in 2015 with the batteries in the 12-inch MacBook, before adopting the same technology in the rest of the MacBook series …
In the 12-inch MacBook, Apple has switched from fixed rectangular batteries to pockets that can be shaped to fit the available space. At the moment, the company considered it a breakthrough technology as it enables the batteries to fill all the free space in the machine.
It offers a lot of flexibility, but the approach also creates problems, as Apple explains.
Lithium-polymer batteries are commonly used as rechargeable batteries to power a variety of electronic devices, including laptops, tablets, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital music players, and cordless power tools. Lithium-polymer batteries can often contain electrodes and electrolytes aluminized in a laminated pouch. These pocket batteries can be used in portable electronic devices with limited space, such as cell phones, laptops and / or portable devices.
The sealed sides of the pouch battery can result in excessive pouch material and the pouch can have a positive voltage that requires the outer surface of the pouch to be insulated from conductive surfaces in the electronic device. To accommodate the excess bag material and to insulate the conductive surface of the bag battery, the bag battery must be smaller than the area provided in the electronic device, leading to wasted space. This is especially important in space-constrained portable electronic devices, where the space is very high and the devices are usually designed to accommodate the largest possible batteries.
To solve this, Apple suggests sticking to the irregular shapes that allow the batteries to take full advantage of the space, but swap a soft bag for a sturdy metal housing.
This disclosure describes various embodiments associated with an enhanced battery to reduce the space between the battery and electronic components in an electronic device. In some embodiments, a battery may include a fixed or semi-rigid housing component in an electronic device.
In some embodiments, for example, the battery contains an electrode and cathode surrounded by a metal housing. The battery can become so large that the available space in the electronic device is optimal, without requiring the distance between the battery housing and other components in the electronic device. In some embodiments, the metal housing can be connected to a common ground so that other components can come into contact with the battery housing without causing a short circuit or corroding the components.
In addition, the metal housing can be used as a structural element in the electronic device. Brackets can be attached to the metal housing, for example, or a flange between two housing pieces can be used as a fastening point.
This way we will get the best of both worlds.
In principle, this will allow for increased battery capacity without increasing the thickness of the MacBook. However, since it is Apple, one can suspect that the company will take the opposite approach and maintain the existing battery capacity while thinning the laptops …
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