ElectriPlast: Jump-Start the Stimulus
Build
a Better
Battery
By: Newswise
Fri, 20 Feb 2009, 13:00 ET
During recent Congressional hearings concerning America’s troubled automotive industry, much of the criticism lodged against Detroit centered around the Motor City’s generations-long unwillingness to embrace fuel efficiency and environmentally sound practices. Attempting to redress that imbalance, President Obama’s economic stimulus and recovery package yokes the nation’s financial future to greener and more environmentally sound practices. Included in this landmark piece of $787 billion legislation is a $40 billion provision intended for energy efficient and renewable programs, including $2 billion earmarked for advanced battery systems.
“Lighter, more efficient batteries could hold the key to a more economically and environmentally sound future,” says William Robinson, chairman and CEO of Bellingham-based Integral Technologies Inc., a development-stage company that may have created a new building block for a better Detroit. “While you can’t change the basics of how a battery works, you can change the materials that are used to create it.”
Integral has done just that, developing a moldable conductive plastic named ElectriPlast, a polymer blend that can be used to conduct electricity. ElectriPlast consists of small single pellets design compounded with metal fibers that, when poured into a molding machine and shaped, may help streamline production of batteries and electronics.
With ElectriPlast replacing lead or stainless steel, batteries could be created that would be 20 to 30 pounds lighter than traditional batteries used today; on average most components would weigh 80 percent less than standard metal counterparts. Lighter doesn’t only mean faster, it also means greener. Today, decreased vehicle weight translates into lower fuel consumption. Tomorrow, a better, more efficient battery likely holds the key to widespread popularity of hybrid and electric cars, and the nation curbing its dependence on fossil fuels.
After spending years perfecting hundreds of formulations and blends of the material, Integral is actively showcasing ElectriPlast to various industries. There are more than 118 patents filed around the product and its use. Along with their official manufacturing partner, Jasper Rubber Products, Integral is currently working to apply their innovations toward the creation of antennas, apparel, appliances, audio and visual devices, automotive products, batteries, cables, computers, electrical and heating systems, and more.
“Given some of the surreal figures being tossed around as part of the stimulus, it is important to note that ElectriPlast is not just a theory but proven technology,” says Robinson, “we know we’re onto something special.”
Source: Integral Technologies Inc.
Article Found at website: www.reliableplant.com
posted by PK... | 3/01/2009 07:00:00 PM
6 Comments:
is this robinson commenting recently? I feel i haven't heard his name attached to a quote in a long time.
Replacing lead in batteries with a conductive plastic is extremely naive pseudo-science. First, virtually all high capacity storage batteries (for cars, boats, golf carts, electric vehicles, etc.) are based on lead-acid electrochemistry. Yes, there are lithium, nickel-cadmium, nickel metal hydride cells but they are small (think camera batteries) and they certainly don't weigh much. There are no viable storage batteries that do not require lead. Lead is the required electrochemical storage medium and other metals or conductors will not work. Second, the amount of storage capacity is proportional to the amount of lead present. Use less lead - get a smaller battery. Finally, other than the lead, the sulfuric acid solution and the plastic case there isn't much else in a battery. There certainly are not pounds of other conducting materials to replace. So there is little or no opportunity for Electriplast (or any of the other conductive plastics available today) in large storage batteries.
But this is typical Integral "science" - broad, hopeful pronouncements and no details. And when you look a little closer and examine the pronouncements or the patents you find the same thing - a complete lack of plausibility and facts. No samples, no measurements, no working prototypes, no science.
The problem here is not the management. In fact they are astonishing - they have been able to raise over $30M without showing a shred of evidence that there products even work (let alone prove that they are commercially viable). And this recent battery gambit is typical - they smell more funding and they are heading for the trough.
I hear what you are saying -- and while I too would caution to wait until you see it happen, I am also aware that JARCO has been speaking to Battery Industry interests who--in the past--had taken provided ElectriPlast material to conduct their own studies. There were reports of success on this front, but those reports were also purposely vague--sourcing concerns and the like. To this point, the current status on that front remains unclear. Perhaps a reach out to JARCO, or from someone in the know there in Jasper might illicit insight...more so than I can offer at this particular moment.
I have two questions that I hope someone can answer. By the way, I do not have an engineering/science background. What is in a battery that makes it heavy?
Does ITKG have any patents (issued or not) related specifically to batteries?
Batteries are heavy because they contain lead plates immersed in an acid/water solution. As you know, water is fairly heavy but lead is extremely dense making an automobile battery very heavy indeed. On the other hand, flashlight and camera batteries are fairly light because they store small amounts of electricity and do not require lead.
A recent patent search shows that Integral does not currently have any patents related to batteries. This makes sense, since there are not significant amounts of conductive material in a battery that are not lead.
BTW, there seems to be a misconception that just because someone has a patent they must have a valuable invention. In fact, most patents cover inventions that have no commerical value. The inventors THOUGHT that they might have the next microwave oven but, in most cases, it just doesn't pan out. In fact, I can show you a patent on an L-shaped attachment for a hockey stick to facilitate flicking dog poop off the lawn.
So, the fact that Integral has dozens of patents is absolutely no indicator that they have a valuable invention.
In other words, when ITKG says they are working with a battery manufacturer (according to investor relations for the last couple of months) it's probably more crap they are flicking at us in an attempt to buy more time. I can't tell you how many times I've been told, "we really are expecting orders very soon" or "the announcement is right around the corner". Just curious, anyone else getting sunshine blown up their ass?
At one time I held quite a few shares.... not anymore.
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