Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1098973
66 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2019 Liu: We are working with our industry partners to apply this battery into things such as safety patches. We put it in an IoT device, which is inte- grated with a vibration sensor. When there is a vibration, or a person falls, it can detect it, send a message to the cloud, and people will know the person has fallen down. Johnson: Running off of this battery? Liu: Correct. Johnson: How do you recharge it? Liu: This is a primary battery, so it's dispos- able. It is very low-cost and made with zinc and manganese. It can be fabricated under ambient environment, unlike a lithium-ion battery. Lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable but the fabrication of lithium-ion battery needs an inner-gas environment. Johnson: What are your next steps for bringing this battery to market? Liu: We are working with different industries to apply this kind of battery for different applica- tions. For example, we will develop a micro- current system for the facial mask to enhance the active-agent delivery to our skin to improve penetration. For IoT devices, we are develop- ing different applications such as asset track- ing. There are a lot of applications. Johnson: Since you're showing this technology at CES, you're obviously looking to make the U.S., North America, and the world aware of your technology. Do you have representation in the U.S? If someone wants to specify this battery for their product, is there someone to work within the U.S. or do they come to you directly in Hong Kong? Liu: The NAMI is a govern- ment-funded research insti- tute, and we work with some companies in Hong Kong to commercialize the technol- ogy; some of our industrial partners have connections with U.S. companies. We also welcome collaboration with industries in other countries for commercialization of the technologies through licens- ing. Johnson: Did I see that this particular technology received a CES Innovation Award? Liu: It did. Johnson: That says a lot right there. Let's talk about your other technologies. Liu: The other one is also very interesting. This time, we brought three battery-related technol- ogies. The next one I would like to introduce is a fast charge battery for the applications such as earphone and wearable devices with wireless charging functions. This battery has a very compact size and high energy density. It can pass industry safety standards and nail penetration. Further, it can be fully charged within 15 minutes and is wirelessly recharge- able. That's another technology that received an award. Johnson: On the Qi standard? Liu: Yes. The last one I would like to high- light is another technology where we printed the lithium-ion battery directly on the flexible PCB (FPCB). During this project, we worked with a famous Hong Kong FPCB company named Compass. They are one of the largest FPCB manufacturers in the world and want to make FPCB cell self-powered. It's the same as a primary battery; most of the battery compo- nent are printed directly on the FPCB. Tracy Liu