France-based battery technology company Nawa Technologies has recently announced to have invented a next-generation ultracapacitors, which it believes will revolutionize IoT devices, offering huge benefits in operational lifetime, cost, efficiency, safety and environmental impact, as the company says that these can reduce the overall size and weight of IoT devices by more than 60 percent.
Nawa Technologies' ultracapacitors named 'NawaCap', uses a material that is abundant, recyclable and environmentally friendly. The NawaCap can be packaged into small, flat cells and withstand extremes of temperature and the harshest environments, through deep sea to deep space.
Ultracapacitor is different from conventional batteries and is capable of holding electrical charge. It differs from a battery as the later is a source of energy for a circuit. In contrast, a capacitor is a passive element, which draws energy from the circuit, store and release it. Further, the Ultracapacitor, store hundreds of times more electrical charge quantity than a standard capacitor.
The tech firm has combined the NawaCap ultracapacitors with a lithium cell, thus creating a ‘hybrid’ battery, which according to the company could reduce the dependence, for example -- lithium AA (Pencil-sized) to smaller AAA-sized batteries with superior performance.
Based on Vertically Alligned Carbon Nano-Structures (VACNT), the solution rely on naturally occurring carbon that forms the basis of the new ultracapacitors that use carbon , thus lowering the reliance upon lithium, which in turn makes it an environmental-friendly hybrid battery.
Nawa Technologies’ core market is the production of its next-generation ultracapacitor cells. With development completed, and 13 million euros funding already raised from historical and new investors end of 2019, the company is to begin the mass production phase over the coming year. A first of its kind cell production line will be installed at its Provence facility and, at full production, Nawa expects to achieve a capacity in excess of one million cells per month.
In addition to the IoT markets, these cells will be first used globally in a wide range of electrical systems including power tools and automated guided vehicles.