National Defense Magazine.org has the story: "Before they go on a mission, soldiers typically want fresh batteries, and they don’t want to have to bring them back. Another nuisance about rechargeables is that each electronic gadget requires specific chargers and batteries that are made by different companies so soldiers end up with a rat’s nest of wires and connectors."
(Ed. Note: We'll have to keep an eye out for more solar battery connector / DC power interconnect -type products and newslets to add to ICW's renewable energy connectivity coverage. The article mentioned here also presents a tidy case example of interconnect technology crossover involving a military application. -- MV)
The article continues, “Soldiers don’t like to recharge because they don’t have portable means to do so, and they have to go back to their base,” said Paul Dev, an energy expert at D-STAR Engineering. Soldiers do not like to carry their dead batteries for an entire mission. Dev said one of the drawbacks of current rechargeables is that they have two-thirds to one-half the energy density of disposable batteries."
"Improving the energy density is essential to making the shift to renewable sources, Schilke said. “We have to learn how to harvest more solar energy,” he said. “We also have to get more efficient at storing.”
"In most areas where U.S. forces deploy, sunlight is plentiful. But garnering that energy will require not only better solar power collectors but also substantial improvements in storage devices, namely, batteries. A shift to renewable energy would require that soldiers embrace rechargeable cells. That, in itself, may be a bridge too far, considering that most soldiers prefer the throwaway type."
"The physics of improving batteries seem rather simple — packing the most amount of energy at the lowest amount of weight. But for most military applications, the most efficient batteries are disposable. That issue alone creates a significant disadvantage for solar energy efforts, as it will require soldiers to trust rechargeable batteries."
Related Renewable Energy Coverage at ICW:
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