Green Patent Blog

In a recent post, I wrote about one of A123 Systems’ (A123) new products - the Hymotion Plug-in Conversion Module, which can convert the Toyota Prius into a plug-in electric vehicle and boost its mpg to over 100 for the first 30-40 miles of driving.

Last month saw more good news for the Boston area battery maker.  First, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that it had signed a three-year deal with A123 to support the company’s efforts to develop more powerful and longer lasting batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles.

Under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, NREL and A123 will research new techniques for improving thermal management in transportation batteries.

A123 also got a boost for a different application of its battery technology - using batteries to get more power out of the electric grid.  CNET recently reported that some electric utilities (unnamed for now) have made a deal with A123 to use its lithium ion batteries to help stabilize the grid (see the greentech media story).

Several of A123’s patents and applications, including U.S. Patent No. 7,348,101, U.S. Patent No. 7,261,979 and U.S. Application Pub. No. 2007/0166617, cover various aspects of lithium ion battery technology.   A123’s patented battery technology reduces the amount of time necessary for charging and loses relatively little capacity and power over numerous charge/discharge cycles. 

The continuing good news for A123 indicates that the company is widely viewed as a winner.  Significantly for A123, it also demonstrates the versatility of its technology for use in a variety of applications.

Battery maker A123 Systems (A123) just started selling its L5 Hymotion Plug-in Conversion Modules, which can transform the Toyota Prius into a plug-in vehicle capable of getting up to 100 mpg for the first 30-40 miles of driving.  The L5’s high energy capacity lithium ion batteries supplement the vehicle’s battery and allow the Prius to use its electric drive more often and for longer distances.  More frequent periods of all electric driving translate into better fuel efficiency. (read the Ecogeek piece and green tech gazette article on the L5)

A123 calls the Hymotion technology Nanophosphate, which means the batteries use lithium iron phosphate as cathode material.  Several of A123’s patents and applications cover lithium iron phosphate batteries, including U.S. Patent No. 7,348,101, U.S. Patent No. 7,261,979 and U.S. Application Pub. No. 2007/0166617. 

A123’s patented battery technology reduces the amount of time necessary for charging and loses relatively little capacity and power over numerous charge/discharge cycles, an important advantage for applications that need high power for long periods of time, such as motor vehicles.  Specifically, one problem with rechargeable batteries is that relatively high charge rates (i.e., less than half an hour) typically cause growth in impedance (resistance and voltage drop). 

Impedance can lead to lithium plating, a film formation on the surface of the negative electrode materials which consumes some of the active lithium from the battery and results in a loss of capacity.  The materials used by A123, including lithium iron phosphate, achieve low impedance growth.  The resulting batteries don’t have the problem of lithium plating and therefore maintain higher power capacities over time, enabling the highly efficient Prius to be even more efficient.

Angstrom Power’s micro hydrogen fuel cells can be sized to fit in existing cell phone battery spaces and can be recharged in just 10 minutes.  It’s no wonder that Motorola was keen to replace lithium ion batteries with Angstrom’s fuel cells.  As Green Tech Gazette reported, Motorola has put the micro hydrogen fuel cells in its MOTOSVR L7 cell phone, which was on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. 

Angstrom has a number of patents covering its fuel cell technology.  U.S. Patent Nos. 6,864,010 and 6,969,563 are directed to high power density fuel cells using the company’s special micro-structured architecture.  Unlike conventional fuel cell designs, which include discrete gas diffusion layers, catalyst layers and electrolyte layers, Angstrom’s fuel cells integrate the functions of all three layers into a single porous substrate.  The three “layers” can be folded together to form various shapes.  In addition, Angstrom’s porous micro-structure increases the electrochemically active surface area of the fuel cell.  The resulting high energy density fuel cells are well-suited for small portable consumer electronics. (read Angstrom’s description of how its micro hydrogen fuel cell works)

Swedish clean energy group Morphic Technologies has made a string of acquisitions recently, gobbling up the Greek energy company Helbio last June, Italian fuel cell maker Arcotronics in November and the Swiss energy storage company AccaGen last month.  Morphic includes a parent company and six subsidiaries engaged in the manufacture of fuel cells and wind turbines and servicing and maintenance of hydroelectric power plants.  The deals provide Morphic with new fuel cell technology and various processes for storing energy from renewable sources. 

The acquisition of Arcotronics provides Morphic with a variety of different fuel cell designs to incorporate into its energy systems.  Most of Arcotronics’ patented technology relates to equipment and techniques for manufacturing batteries and capacitors.  For example, U.S. Patent No. 7,215,532 claims a machine with a rotating frame, a polygonal support structure, spacers and rolls for storing plastic film raw material.  The rotation of the frame winds the film onto the support, creating multiple film layers of uniform shape and thickness.  The spacers are arranged at the first film layer at locations corresponding to the corners of the polygon and serve to maintain the structure of the resulting capacitor.  This technique provides more uniformity among different regions of the wound film, and thus more uniform electrical characteristics, and also permits production of capacitors of different shapes by substituting different support structures.

Helbio’s technology relates to hydrogen production from biofuel raw materials.  Helbio holds one U.S. patent on a method of producing hydrogen from ethanol by oxidation.  U.S. Patent No. 6,605,376 covers a process of mixing ethanol with oxygen in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide.  The patent also covers a method including the additional steps of fermenting biomass to produce the ethanol starting material and directing the resulting hydrogen gas to a fuel cell.

The AccaGen deal also provides Morphic with hydrogen production capability.  AccaGen makes electrolyzers for separating water into hydrogen and oxygen.