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Solid State Nuclear Battery Cell for 100 Years of Ultra-Low Power Operationwww.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nrd-llc-announces-release-of-solid-state-nuclear-battery-power-cell-designed-for-100-years-of-ultra-low-power-operation-302738931.html
622 sats \ 2 comments \ @k00b 12 Apr science tech Construction_and_Engineering
a Nickel-63-fueled, solid-state betavoltaic nuclear battery power cell designed to provide continuous, maintenance-free power for ultra-low power electronics over operational timelines that extend beyond a century.
Typical performance includes a power output range of 5 nW to 500 nW, an open-circuit voltage of 1.0 V to 20.0 V, and a nominal current of 7.5 nA to 33 nA, all contained within a 20 mm by 20 mm by 12 mm form factor.

I'd love to see this in a consumer application - even something trivial like a calculator or a reading light.

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3 sats \ 0 replies \ @UncleJim21 13 Apr

These would have to scale up significantly in power output:

  1. Just to power a basic sensor they'd need a couple orders of magnitude increase
  2. To power a calculator or a light it's like 6 to 8 orders of magnitude depending on how good you want it to be. Calculators are peaky so you'd need a clever power supply design.
  3. If you want anything internet connected it'll be another few orders of magnitude because wifi is a hog. You could probably do BLE on a lot less though.

E-ink is a cool application almost within reach but likewise require scale up in power

Conceptually it is cool. This would start to fill a niche I played a lot with called Energy Harvesting. The idea being that you use ambient sun, vibrational energy whatever you can get your hands on to power low power sensors. But the reliability isn't there. These batteries solve the steady reliability problem but they need to scale up power output to unlock more applications.

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3 sats \ 0 replies \ @fourrules 13 Apr

I'm not putting a nuclear battery in my pocket!

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