The Tail Wagging the Dog

The end-of-the-year holidays (hopefully) gave all of us a little quiet time to relax and reflect. This year, I finally took the time to clean out some old boxes that had been tucked away in the back corner of my office closet… mostly old notebooks and drawings from projects long ago forgotten. But I found one interesting artifact that I decided to keep for its historical value,  the first Lithium-Ion battery spec sheet that I had,  a faxed copy, no less, from 1993. Read more about The Tail Wagging the Dog

The Lithium Battery Saga Continues with Additional Restrictions to Come in 2015

Bob Richard, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs
Labelmaster Services

A special session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) was convened in Montreal, Canada from April 7-11 2014 to address the transport of lithium batteries as cargo aboard aircraft.  The focus of the meeting was on a proposed prohibition of lithium metal batteries as cargo on Passenger Aircraft.  The special session was convened because the DGP was unable to reach an agreement on how to appropriately address the safe transport of lithium batteries aboard passenger and cargo aircraft during their regularly scheduled 24th session which was held October 28 to November 8 2013.  Read more about The Lithium Battery Saga Continues with Additional Restrictions to Come in 2015

For Lithium Ion Batteries, Growth Is a Game Changer

George Kerchner, Executive Director
PRBA – The Rechargeable Battery Association

Here’s an intriguing headline that appeared in ClimateProgress: How Scientists, Car Companies, And the Military Are Creating the Smartest Energy Solution on The Market.

What’s the “smartest energy solution?” The answer is: “Lots and lots of batteries.” Read more about For Lithium Ion Batteries, Growth Is a Game Changer

The Lithium Battery Saga Continues with Additional Restrictions to Come in 2015

Bob Richard, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs
Labelmaster Services

A special session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) was convened in Montreal, Canada from April 7-11 2014 to address the transport of lithium batteries as cargo aboard aircraft.  The focus of the meeting was on a proposed prohibition of lithium metal batteries as cargo on Passenger Aircraft.  The special session was convened because the DGP was unable to reach an agreement on how to appropriately address the safe transport of lithium batteries aboard passenger and cargo aircraft during their regularly scheduled 24th session which was held October 28 to November 8 2013.  Read more about The Lithium Battery Saga Continues with Additional Restrictions to Come in 2015

Unplanned Obsolescence

Upal Sengupta, Staff Applications Engineer
Texas Instruments, Battery Management Solutions

Many of us (who have reached a certain age) may look back with nostalgia to the good old days.  It was a simpler time, life was not so hard, and so on.  Just the other day, one of my friends traded in his 21 year old pickup truck for a newer (12 year old) one and made the comment “they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.”  Well, maybe sometimes that can be a good thing too. Read more about Unplanned Obsolescence

Less is Not More

Upal Sengupta, Staff Applications Engineer
Texas Instruments, Battery Management Solutions

For most of my career developing portable equipment, I’ve been taught that “less is more.  The fewer integrated circuit (IC) devices on a PC board, the better.  We’ve been on a quest for smaller, lighter and cheaper since the first portable computers and mobile phones showed up 20 to 30 years ago. Read more about Less is Not More