In medicine, wearables are used to collect data without disturbing patients as they go about their daily business – to record long-term ECGs, for instance. Since the sensors are light, flexible and concealed in clothing, this is a convenient way to monitor a patient’s heartbeat. The technology also has more everyday applications – fitness bands, for instance, that measure joggers’ pulses while out running. There is huge growth potential in the wearables sector, which is expected to reach a market value of 72 billion euros by 2020.
How to power these smart accessories poses a significant technical challenge. There are the technical considerations – durability and energy density – but also material requirements such as weight, flexibility and size, and these must be successfully combined. This is where Fraunhofer IZM comes in: experts at the institute have developed a prototype for a smart wristband that, quite literally, collects data first hand. The silicone band’s technical piece de resistance is its three gleaming green batteries. Boasting a capacity of 300 milliampere hours, these batteries are what supply the wristband with power. They can store energy of 1.1 watt hours and lose less than three percent of their charging capacity per year. With these parameters the new prototype has a much higher capacity than smart bands available at the market so far, enabling it to supply even demanding portable electronics with energy. The available capacity is actually sufficient to empower a conventional smart watch at no runtime loss. With these sorts of stats, the prototype beats established products such as smart watches, in which the battery is only built into the watch casing and not in the strap.
Success through segmentation
Robert Hahn, a researcher in Fraunhofer IZM’s department for RF & Smart Sensor Systems, explains why segmentation is the recipe for success: “If you make a battery extremely pliable, it will have very poor energy density – so it’s much better to adopt a segmented approach.”
Instead of making the batteries extremely pliable at the cost of energy density and reliability, the institute turned its focus to designing very small and powerful batteries and optimized mounting technology. The batteries are pliable in between segments. In other words, the smart band is flexible while retaining a lot more power than other smart wristbands available on the market.
Customer-tailored solutions
In its development of batteries for wearables, Fraunhofer IZM combines new approaches and years of experience with a customer-tailored development process: “We work with companies to develop the right battery for them,” explains the graduate electrical engineer. The team consults closely with customers to draw up the energy requirements. They carefully adapt parameters such as shape, size, voltage, capacity and power and combined them to form a power supply concept. The team also carries out customer-specific tests.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
