Chip-type Ceramic Secondary Batteries for IoT and Wearable Devices
NGK Insulators, Ltd. has developed the small, thin and high-energy-density ceramic secondary battery EnerCera® series successfully. Mass production will start in April 2019 to be adopted as a power source of "IoT; everything connects to the internet" devices, smart cards and so on.
EnerCera is a Li-ion secondary battery with NGK's original Crystal Oriented Ceramic Plate as electrodes. The Crystal Oriented Ceramic Plate is composed of just an active material and it contains no organic binder or conductive material which exists in a Li-ion battery normally but does not contribute to battery capacity.
Therefore, EnerCera realizes high energy density and low internal resistance with a small and thin body and is capable of high-temperature installation. The energy density is double and the internal resistance is less than a half compared to commercial secondary batteries of the same size.
EnerCera is an ultra-small/ultra-thin onboard-type high-performance battery for operating ICs, sensors and a wireless communication system which needs large current such as several 10mA to several 100mA. In addition, CV (Constant Voltage)-charging capability eliminates the need for a charger IC to control the charge current.
EnerCera has two types: "EnerCera Coin," a coin type cell, 1mm to 2mm thick, for mounting on a circuit board, and "EnerCera Pouch," an ultra-thin and bendable cell, 0.4mm to 0.45mm thick, for embedding in a card.
EnerCera Coin is the first SMD-type Li-ion battery which can be mounted by Solder Reflow, commonly used as an electronic component-mounting process, and it has a high discharge current property sufficient to operate devices.
EnerCera Pouch is the first thin-type Li-ion battery which can be embedded by hot lamination (above 100 degree Celsius) used widely in the IC card production. The EnerCera Pouch lineup has a fast charging type, a high-capacity type and a high-power type for customers' various device designs.
The EnerCera series is expected to be adopted for applications which require high capacity in a small and thin body, such as IoT devices, beacons (short-range wireless communication devices), RFID tags, electronic shelf labels (ESLs), wearable devices, solar watches and backup power of solid state drives (SSDs).
NGK has provided EnerCera samples to tens of companies worldwide. The production lines are ready, with 2 million units per month, at NGK's Nagoya factory and NGK Ceramic Devices Co., Ltd.'s Yamanashi factory. NGK plans to start mass production in the spring of 2019.
