The consumer electronics industry has embraced obsolescence as a way of increasing profits. Smartphones, laptops, and media players are designed to fail, central to this is the rechargeable battery. Many manufacturers now seal the battery into the device, so rather than simply swapping the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery when it reaches its end of life, users are strong-armed into buying a new product. However, when it comes to medical devices obsolescence on such a large scale is unacceptable.
Rob Brown
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Accutronics develops batteries for professional markets where the requirements for size, weight and environmental performance are very high on the list of customer needs. As mechanical engineering manager David Asplin works closely with our clients throughout the custom battery design process.
Symbiosis is interaction between two organisms to the advantage of both. There are many examples of this in the natural and business worlds and battery & comms systems specialist Ultralife Corporation’s purchase of UK battery original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Accutronics, at the start of 2016, is a perfect example.
John Kotter’s eight steps for leading change has become mandatory reading for any business shaking things up. Ultralife’s acquisition of Accutronics is definitely a change, and together both companies have impressive goals that we hope will change the way design engineers view the incorporation of smart batteries into their projects. So, several months after the relationship between Ultralife and Accutronics became formal, I found it interesting to look back on the process and compare it to Kotter's ideal model. Kotter's eight step process is:
According to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), the UK manufacturing sector risks stagnation. This warning comes from the BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) which saw manufacturing export sales drop to their lowest levels since 2009 in the final quarter of 2015. Rob Phillips, sales and marketing director of professional battery manufacturer Accutronics, investigates how the industry can recover.
Whether it is a POS (Point of Sale) machine used in a restaurant or high-tech night-vision goggles, portable electronics invade every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Engineers, scientists, restaurant staff, delivery operatives and Doctors all use portable electronic equipment to keep the world turning. The common denominator in all of these devices is the requirement for a safe and reliable battery system.
When transporting any battery it's very important that the positive and negative terminals are insulated to avoid short circuits, but when transporting Lithium ion batteries this requirement is
written into the regulations and anyone offering these batteries for transport must ensure that the terminals are correctly insulated.
The rechargeable battery industry isn't known for its gadgets but this Smart Battery Reader is a gadget which becomes invaluable once you have one.
Every year in Louisville, Kentucky, hackers and security experts gather for DerbyCon. While a get-together of hackers may sound troubling on its own, what’s truly disturbing is what came out of last year’s conference. Medical cyber crime is on the rise, and there are thousands of critical medical devices which can currently be located online and hacked directly.
Researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA, recently developed a small piece of hardware that enables medical devices to securely connect to WiFi networks. Due to its wand-like appearance, the system has been dubbed the magic wand of MedTech.
Unfortunately, there is little that is magical about the device. While it does address the problem the medical technology (MedTech) and healthcare sectors are facing in regards to cybercrime, there is much more that needs to be done to secure medical hardware.
For heavy users of batteries the need to charge them is paramount.
