Chip-type ceramic secondary battery for IoT devices at CES

NGK will exhibit the EnerCera Pouch module, which can be embedded in an IC card with hot lamination, and the EnerCera Coin module, which can be mounted on a circuit board with reflow soldering. Combining the ultrasmall, thin, and low-resistant EnerCera series with TOREX’s compact and thin power source IC that consumes very little power, the modules are microminiature, thin, and highly efficient modules optimal as a power source for maintenance-free IoT devices. 

The EnerCera Pouch module can be incorporated in thin devices like smart cards and wearable devices without impairing the EnerCera Pouch’s thinness and size. The EnerCera Coin module targets application to IoT devices, electronic shelf label, beacons (short-distance wireless communication equipment), RFID tags, smart keys and more, and is planned to be mounted on the surface of devices’ main substrates.

As IoT becomes widely available on a full scale, there are demands for maintenance-free IoT devices that run on a wireless power supply, on weak electricity generated from device periphery light and heat, vibration energy, and others that do not require battery replacement or charging.

The EnerCera series is a secondary battery that is optimal for maintenance-free IoT devices. It can efficiently charge itself with a weak current and perform an intermittent large current discharge for sensing and communication. When designing devices that use secondary batteries, a power source IC is needed to control the charge and discharge. 

Strong needs exist for commercialising a module that is integrated with a small and highly efficient power source IC while keeping the EnerCera series’ features, so NGK decided to exhibit a sample of the power source module at CES 2020 jointly with TOREX. At this trade fair, NGK will collect additional needs for module design and operation specifications to achieve early commercialisation.

The EnerCera series is a lithium ion secondary battery using NGK’s original crystal-oriented ceramic plate as electrodes. The series is characterised by high thermal resistance that allows the batteries to be mounted on devices at high temperatures. The series includes a thin EnerCera Pouch for IC cards and a coin-type EnerCera Coin for circuit boards.

NGK has mass-produced the series since 2019 for application in various devices that require small, thin, and high-capacity batteries, such as IoT devices, beacons, smart cards, RFID tags, electronic inventory tags, wearable devices, and solar watches.

At the NGK booth, the company will exhibit a high heat resistance model of EneraCera Coins, which achieved a lithium-ion secondary battery of an operating temperature of 85°C.