New cell phone power -cell in development

[betavoltaic]

My company is in development of a power-cell for cell phones. This power-cell will provide the average cell phone with 5 years of talk time and 10 years of stand-by power. The cost of the power cell is estimated to wholesale at $50 US per unit in quantity and have a suggested retail price of $198 US.

The power-cell will not require charging and will provide constant duty for approximately 5 years time. The disposal of the power-cell will not require any special handling as the products fuel becomes inert when exhausted or when not in use for a period of time.

Interested distributors are ask to send us a letter of interest to purchase on their companies letterhead either by email attachment or by US post.

Sincerely,
Michael McDonnough
President
Betavoltaic Industries Inc.
http://www.betavoltaic.com
email: info@betavoltaic.com

Mail to: Attn., President
Betavoltaic Industries Inc.
3144 S. Mingo Rd. Suite 160
Tulsa OK 74146
918-493-2226

The website is under construction.

[KevinJames]

This is very interesting. I'm intrigued. But there is something I don't understand--isn't battery life directly related to usage? On the current batteries, the charge is only good for a few hours to a few days. It is not only dependent on amount of talk time but also on whether one is in digital or analog mode. If I understand your post correctly, it doesn't matter how long one talks on it, it will hold a charge.

Most rechargeables cost around $75 and last around 2 years. So the cost is comparable. But this business of not having to ever charge it is amazing!

[Tommyboy]

I have another question, will the power cell be unique to the model of phone? If so you might want to take into consideration that most end users switch phones every 2 years. By the time they need a new battery they probably already have gotten a new phone.

It does sound interesting but I would have to wait and see how it works in application.

Tom

[betavoltaic]

We have been talking to industry people and they agree with you. 5 years is too long. We can also engineer shorter lifetimes into the power-cell by changing a few of the parameters of the power-cell. The shorter life cell will cost the same but it can be acomplished. The different types of phones is also a consideration so we are likely going to contract with aftermarket vendors for our power-cells if license deals can not be worked out with the companies building the handsets. Our technology will without a doubt work best is used as an embedded power source for a disposable phone as it can be programmed and fueled for any time peroid we wish with only minor changes to the cell layout and fuel arrangment and fuel type.

[betavoltaic]

Kevin the fact that it does not and in fact can not be recharged is the reason we considered the cell phone market for our initial offering. We plan next to make laptop batteries and built-in power for military powered optics. The fuel source for the power-cell is a very low energy pure beta-electron producer very commonly found in nature. It is through our manipulation of the fuel that causes it to produce more electrons then it would under normal conditions. If the power-cell is not in use it will remain usable for much longer then 5 years. Under constant duty it can be designed to work for as long or as short of a period as we program into it.

For the funding we need to get our power-cells from design to full production we need to show some industry interest to our investors. That is the reason for my post here. If anyone would like more information or as stated above are interested in purchasing power-cells when they become available, please contact me at the number or address /email above in the post.

Michael McDonnough
President
Betavoltaic Industries Inc.

Kevin and others,
I remain EXTREMELY skeptical of any NUCLEAR power solution for my cellphone or laptop. I hope the UFO's got it right. These people have obviously been rummaging around Area 51's trash piles! (I wonder if they glow in the dark. Will my cellphone?)

I would ask about the WEIGHT of one of these proposed batteries. Is it at all shielded? "Environmentally safe nuclear source" seems an oxymoron!

And if people are worried about the yet to be demonstrated danger of cell phone radiation causing cancer or other illness, what will they think of putting a KNOWN cancer causing radioactive source next to their head -- or for that matter at their waist or other body part, even if using a handsfree...

[betavoltaic]

The beta-electron source is very safe. Safer in fact then the Cobalt now used in Li-ion batteries. Cobalt is not environmentally safe to dispose of in a landfill for instance. Our power-cell's fuel breaks down into a harmless inert gas that can do no harm to the environment.

As far as shielding goes the beta-electrons can be blocked with a thin sheet of aluminum foil.

These do not use a gamma emitter now that would be dangerous!

Most of you sit in front of a beta-electron emitter every day, your TV or your computer monitor. The Betavolt power-cell uses a type of containment that absorbs nearly all of the beta-electrons emitted by the fuel to convert it into usable electric power.

This fuel is stimulated to produce a usable amount of power and if not stimulated it would not produce enough beta-energy to detect with even the most powerful detectors.

Simply put your fears espoused here are alarmist and simply unfounded.

This technology is straight up Jetsons, and it is the 21st century now. You should expect that there would be safe clean scalable energy systems devised to use beta-electrons for fuel by now.

We expect about 2% of the global market to go along with the idea at first. With about a billion wireless subscribers projected by the end of this year by next year that figure is going to be more like 1.4 billion.

I can live with 2% of 1.4 billion buying into our power-cells. Once these are out there and people get to enjoy never having to charge a battery again, I think the numbers will increase about another 2% per year.

Beta-electrons are not gamma photons, they are stopped by the atmosphere alone in a couple of centimeters.

Michael McDonnough
Betavoltaic Industries Inc.
http://www.betavoltaic.com

[KevinJames]

Nice write-up Mike. Why the poster chose to mention me by name beats me. I figured if the poster's concerns were real you would have run into a huge brick wall with the FCC and whatever other agency might monitor that.

In worse-case-scenario (battery breaking/shattering while in shirt or pants pocket), what is the worst human health risk for your technology and those currently avaialble?

As far as a +/- margin in the weight category, what do you anticipate?

By the way, I really appreciate your factual and informative articles. WirelessAdvisor may not be the right place for you to find investors. Have your tried submitting articles to wirelessnewsfactor.com or wirelessweek.com?

[betavoltaic]

Kevin,
Worse case scenario is that if it breaks (which would take a Mack truck) it would no longer function. The isotope is a solid so it will not leak out or anything. The isotope when left alone in nature takes about a billion years to release its energy it is such a weak beta-electron source. If the cell breaks some how, it is no longer stimulated to create the high energy that our system causes and will go back to being the very weak benign material that it is.

In nature these isotopes are used to measure the geological life of objects. It is like background radiation, very low.

As far as breakage is concerned it is not impossible but it is unlikely. These devices are solid-state in design and are fabricated much as ordinary IC devices, then they are encased in solid fiber reinforced epoxy. Both for the protection of the user and for the power-cell. Also to make it very hard to reverse engineer. The fibers in the epoxy have aluminum and boron-silicate strands that absorb any stray beta-electrons and make it impossible to x-ray the power-cell.

I am not in this forum looking for investors; I would like to get some future purchase interest in the Betavolt(tm) power-cells on paper faxed to me on company letterhead from some industry people.

This cost nothing and obligates you to nothing but shows my investors some interest should their investment pay-off and we are producing these later next year that people in the industry are willing to purchase them.

Michael McDonnough
President,
Betavoltaic Industries Inc.
http://www.betavoltaic.com

[KevinJames]

I'm sorry, you did say "distributors," not "investors" in your original post--my mistake.

The point I was making is that most (not all) of the people here, even those who work for carriers, are individuals trying to help out and not in a position to authorize or take initiative to work as distributors. I was just trying, from my personal experience, to hopefully provide you some lucrative avenues. Sometimes my "help" just isn't useful. The only other thing I can think of, and you've probably already examined that avenue, would be to talk to Radio Shack and other after-market resellers that are already in the market of selling non-OEM equipment. Even Walmart, KMart and Target sell cell phone batteries.

[betavoltaic]

Kevin,

Your advice was helpful but I did not want you to think I was here looking for investors. Interaction with the purchasing public is also of interest to me and this forum and you have been helpful in that. I will check out wirelessnewsfactor.com or wirelessweek.com as you mentioned for more industry people.

Thanks

Michael McDonnough