Batteries

I had the opportunity to see a medical battery manufacturing facility this past week. We are doing a project for the battery manufacturing company to verify manufactured batteries meet the necessary requirement. I was was brought in as a specialist to address a specific application problem they were seeing in their lab but we were unable to reproduce. While we were on site, they gave us an impromptu tour of one of their battery manufacturing facilities. Now, it is important to note that these are not exactly the AA batteries that you put in your remote control. These are batteries that are used in pace makers and defibrillator. The reliability and precision should be evident with this intention in mind.

It was another humbling experience to see the precision and accuracy that is necessary for something that we basically use everyday. The facility asked me not to take any photos so unfortunately I can't share you what it looked like.

As an engineer it is frustrating to here someone say a technically ignorant thing such as "why can't they just make better batteries? The battery in my iPod should be much better!". John Miano said this on the radio not too long ago. John isn't unfamiliar with saying technically inaccurate things. John isn't even unfamiliar with saying things that are just plain wrong. I was reminded of his battery statement as I was dressed in static gown, safety glasses, surgical mask, and gloves viewing the automated chamber where a thin layer of lithium (the battery anode) is stamped out, inspected and added to the stack of anodes and cathodes that make up the battery. The engineer pointed to the huge fire suppression systems near the lithium chambers and said "you really don't want to see a fire in one of these..."

The temperature and humidity are controlled on the manufacturing floor. A large display said it was exactly 69 F, controlled to +- 1 F, and the humidity was held at 0.33%. The engineer on the tour next to me leaned over and said, "this can't be good for my dry skin problem."

The entire line is automated. The anoted and cathode are stamped and layered by robotic arms. Belts queue up and move the pieces from one automated assembly station to the next. The enclosures are also assembled automatically and laser welded. Are you kidding me? I just assumed laser welding was something they liked to do in science fiction movies but was never really practically used.

The chemist who was in charge of putting their custom electrolyte into the battery in the final steps was not too friendly about the tour. However, like all technical people he was all to happy to explain his creation and why it was better than others... I take this with a grain of salt.

So why can't they make better batteries? Mino, I suggest you get yourself to a site that makes these. Talk to the chemical engineers, take the tour of the manufacturing floor. I share the sentiment that I wish my laptop's battery would last much longer. However I'm now amazed that our batteries are as good as they are.