SMT007 Magazine

SMT007-Apr2019

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74 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2019 have this battery built into my watch band—I can feel it all the way down the band—how much charge do I get out of it and add lifetime to my watch? Yeung: You are looking at one section of the watch strap, but watch straps have two sections. Each section has approximately 80–100 mAh (miliamp-hours). If they are both wrapped with a battery, that's around 180 mAh. To give you an indication, I believe an Apple iWatch battery is about 200+ mAh. If you have this watch strap integrated into an Apple Watch, it can run from one to two days now to three to four days, which is nearly double the capacity. Johnson: Or for the same battery life, you could move the batteries into the band and free up room inside the case for additional function. Yeung: Yes, which is quite a lot. And by the way, for each smartwatch, typically it has about 50% of the watch body compartment contributed to the battery. So, if you can place the battery outside the watch, the watch can probably be half the size. Johnson: Or you could go that direction and make a smaller watch, which makes a lot of sense. What other cases are envisioned for this battery technology? Yeung: Oh, there are a lot. For wearables, what- ever you put on the body should be a light, ergo- nomic, and curvy. We can put this battery on a blouse or a smart insole to track activity and pressure of the body when you exercise. There are many applications for clothing, on head - phones, etc., so it's a quite limitless application. Johnson: Are you seeing a lot of interest here at CES for this product, and is this commercially available today? Yeung: It is commercially available. We had the production ready in Hong Kong starting last year. Now, we are making samples for various interested parties to try and see. Because this technology is so new, no one would place a big order right now. Instead, everyone picks samples and tries them out. We also offer low-cost customization of the battery, so for whoever wants to try it, we could give them the compact battery that suits them. We expect more and more inquiries in the coming few months. Then, we expect mass production to start later this year. Johnson: As I'm thinking about other appli- cations such as pet collars, heated clothing, powered wallets, or even a smart insole for your shoe or watch band, I wonder about the lifetime of the battery. At some point with the battery embedded in the watch band, if it needs to be swapped out for a new battery, what are some of the challenges and how do you solve them? Yeung: The battery has lithium-ion chemistry, but it is more efficient than typical lithium-

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