NEC Develops Backup Battery With Organic CompoundsNEC Develops Backup Battery With Organic Compounds

MANHASSET, N.Y. — NEC Corp. of Japan has announced it is developing a high-power organic radical battery to protect IT equipment such as desktop PCs from losing data during power supply interruptions.

The film packed battery, measuring 55 X 43 mm x 4 mm thick, produces 35 watts. Its four series connected cells are capable of driving a 140-watt class desktop PC.

NEC believes the technology can not only serve as an emergency power source for commercial computers and IT equipment, but also back up equipment such as electrical household appliances.

The organic radical battery is a new class of rechargeable battery being developed by NEC, which uses the electrochemical reaction of organic radical compounds. This technology, initially proposed by NEC in 2001, produces batteries that deliver high energy density and good cycleability, suiting them for next-generation applications.

The organic radical battery consists of organic polymer which contains no harmful heavy metals such as lead or cadmium. The technology has also been confirmed to be inflammable and non-explosive.

NEC demonstrated the use of the organic radical battery as an emergency power source for its desktop PC that typically consumes 228 watts maximum and 96 watts average. In general, data backup of a PC takes several tens of seconds. Therefore, the battery only has to drive the PC for a short time during power failure to enable data backup.

According to the company, 1.7 watt-hours of energy are needed to drive a 100-watt class PC for 60 seconds. However, because a cell capacity of 50 watt-hours or more is the required power level for conventional lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride cells, using those technologies for PC data backup is considered very costly.

On the contrary, a high-power organic radical battery with a capacity of 1 watt-hour can discharge 100 watts, said NEC.