[JPCA] Oki Embeds Li-ion Battery in Printed Board

Jun 3, 2010 18:50 Masahide Kimura, Nikkei Electronics

Oki Printed Circuits Co Ltd showed an exhibit on a technology to embed a 170μm-thick thin-film all-solid-state lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable battery in a printed board at JPCA Show 2010, which runs from June 2 to 4, 2010, in Tokyo.

So far, there have been many printed boards embedded with passive or active devices, but few printed boards have come equipped with energy devices, the company said.

The thin-film all-solid-state Li-ion battery used for the printed board is a product of Infinite Power Solutions Inc (IPS). Its output voltage and capacity are 4.2V and 0.7mAh, respectively. This time, Oki Printed Circuits exhibited a 0.8mm-thick four-layer board embedded with the rechargeable battery and turned on and off an LED lamp.

When the new technology is used to realize a local energy source in a system, it is possible to reduce the peak power of the entire system, the company said. For example, it is possible to charge a battery embedded in the printed board of a module that intermittently operates in a mobile phone when no power is required for the module and make the battery discharge when a high peak power is required.

Thus far, electric double layer capacitors have been used for such an application. However, because their large leak current increases the number of recharges, the power consumption of an electric double layer capacitor became a problem.

On the other hand, when a rechargeable battery is used, it is possible to reduce the leak current and the number of recharges, Oki Printed Circuits said.

The company has been making efforts to expand the application of the technology in conjunction with several corporate users, planning to commercialize it in some form within 2011.

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