Smartphones are great but don’t you just hate it when you have to charge them and the darn thing takes forever to charge up? Yes, that needs to be solved soon or has it been already? Qnovo is a startup in California claiming to have come up with a new approach to recharge the lithium-ion batteries about 6 times faster. As per Qnovo, users can enjoy 6 hours of phone life after charging for 15 minutes only.
How can this be possible? Qnovo says that no two batteries are same and knowing how much electricity can be transmitted to a battery without damaging it, can make all the difference in the world. Lithium ion batteries deteriorate over time because charging results in dendrite formation. To avoid rapid deterioration, device makers limit the amount of electricity that is being transferred to the battery. This provides longer battery life while increasing the charge time for a certain period.
Qnovo comes up with a unique solution to this issue. Instead of just reducing the charging current to the lowest possible value, why don’t we define the amount that won’t damage the battery? Considering the fact that every battery is different, each one will have a different value and to tackle this, Qnovo has designed a feedback loop which is quite intelligent indeed. The purpose of it is to consistently check the battery’s status to ascertain if it is getting the optimal current. By simply sending a pulse and registering the voltage response, Qnovo can ascertain the battery’s temperature, age and other factors that contribute towards charging. This allows for tweaking of current.
The end result after optimizing the current input, according to Qnovo, is that you can be able to charge the batteries about 3-6 times faster and the battery remains healthy as well. As of now, Qnovo offers two options; either install the software that will run on smartphone/laptop and optimize the charging process or you can opt for the special chip that will manage the charge circuits for your device.
Let’s see how all of this pans out. We believe Qnovo is on to something that could very well revolutionize the mobile market. As per Qnovo, the technology will be available in limited smartphones by 2015.
