California teen invents device that could charge a cell phone in 20 seconds

SFGate ^ | 05/21/2013

[SeekAndFind]

Now here’s the invention that we’ve all been waiting for: A device that instantly charges our cell phones.

A gadget like this might soon be on its way thanks to a bright 18-year-old from Saratoga, Calif., who was recently honored at an international science fair.

Eesha Khare is the mind behind a super-powerful and tiny gizmo that packs more energy into a small space, delivers a charge more quickly, and holds that charge longer than the typical battery. Khare showed off her so-called super-capacitor last week at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Ariz. In her demonstration, she showed it powering a light-emitting diode, or LED light, but the itty-bitty device could fit inside cell phone batteries, delivering a full charge in 20-30 seconds. It takes several hours for the average cell phone to fully charge.

Khare also pointed out that the super-capacitor “can last for 10,000 charge cycles compared to batteries which are good for only 1,000 cycles.”

Khare’s invention is flexible and could be used in roll-up devices and might even have applications for car batteries.

The judges at the science fare were wowed by Khare’s brilliant invention and the senior at Lynbrook High School in San Jose received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and $50,000.

“With this money I will be able to pay for my college and also work on making scientific advancements,” Khare told a cheering audience after receiving the prize money.

[cynwoody]

This is not about charging a cell phone battery at all, much less in 20 seconds. It's about replacing the cell phone's battery with a supercapacitor capable of being charged in 20 seconds.

[mylife]

Well now we know where she got the lab.

[AlmaKing]

This is really about pushing unqualified minority females in the tech industry into engineering positions. Wait til you have to work for one of these dummies.

[Nowhere Man]

Another problem is quick discharge rates can lead to heat/explosions. Or one helluva jolt from a small package. Don’t put your tongue on one.

Everytime I hear of things like this, I think back to 1979/1980 to an old column in "Elementary Electronics where someone wrote into the Q&A, "Ask Hank He Knows." It was a claim where they could charge the batteries of an electric car in a few minutes. Hank answer where if it was done, you'd be putting so much amperage (current) into the battery, the wiring in you house would be so thick and humungeous, it would generate heat through the wires and electrical system, Also, you'd get a lot of heat from the battery, Hank said, "it would even glow." Heat is bad for batteries or even components like capacitors, it is not a good idea to fast charge them because of that. I prefer to use a slow charge on batteries unless I truly needed them, then I went with a fast charge. I'm skeptical on this one. I know we made advances in electronics from 1979 to now but the laws of physics are the same then as now.

[The Cajun]

I have to admit, still don't understand why she won the 50 Gs on this.
What breakthrough did she make?

[TChad]

I thought this was a student competition?

I'm wondering exactly what sort of competition it was. She is too damned pretty.

If her beauty is unrelated to the award, and if she actually did substantive scientific work on her own, then I apologize for my cynical suspicions.

[mylife]

None.
It’s like giving her an award for the same old cold fusion crap that has been scammed again and a again.

It’s all on the taxpayer dime, so why not build her up?

[MaxMax]

Have you built a perpetual energy device yet?
The technology is almost here or it's being hidden.

[mylife]

Hmm...
I wonder why Volt owners homes were burning down when they used “Quick Charge”?

Solar panels will save us, I see them on “Every Home”. /s

All this stuff should be explored in a free market.
NONE of it should be this scam that is going on.

[mylife]

In this house we obey the laws of thermal dynamics!!

[jsanders2001]

Correct and an LED requires very little current to operate. Sounds like she hasn’t invented anything new but may have found a way to apply current technology to meet a need. We’ll see...

[TChad]

Well now we know where she got the lab.

...and the idea to use a nanotech stucture of titanium dioxide to make a supercapacitor. Thank you, Dr. Li!

[mylife]

We use LED lights in some of our USAF planes for general lighting (To save energy I suppose), It sucks, it is crappy lighting and there are some big ass jet engines sucking some fuel out there so what is the point?.

OK I get reducing the power load so we have more capability.

Hey, you gotta pee standing up in the corner at 50K with a curtain around ya, because some ahole bitched about a $900 terlit seat LOL.

All this stuff is a trade off.

[Nowhere Man]

This is really about pushing unqualified minority females in the tech industry into engineering positions. Wait til you have to work for one of these dummies.

Yeah, I'm cynical too. If this was really true, most likely it would have been in use by 1970 or so. I've known about "supercaps" and the principle behind this since I first played around with electronics kits in the 1970's. It was neat to charge up big capacitors to see how long it took to make a LED glow, but it lasted only a few seconds and the brightness went down fast. If this is true, I will admit I was wrong and stand corrected, but at best, there is a very limited use for this and worst, shenanigans.

[dsrtsage]

“This is really about pushing unqualified minority females in the tech industry into engineering positions. Wait til you have to work for one of these dummies.”

Though I have worked with some fine female engineers. The female engineers that came through diversity pushes are godawful. I’m not saying I haven’t worked with my share of godawful male engineers, but the difference is if a male engineer sucks, you simply get rid of him. The diversity hire has kryptonite shielding, and the only way to get her out of the field is to promote her to another department.

[mylife]

We can make a car that gets 75 MPG but it won’t pull a mesquite stump out of the field.

[mylife]

A neat parlor trick at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMhXCG6k6oA

[Nowhere Man]

Hmm...
I wonder why Volt owners homes were burning down when they used “Quick Charge”?

Good points. Either the house wiring and/or the charging unit itself is not up to handled the current or you'd have the same thing in the car itself thus causing these fires and explosions.

[mylife]

I imagine despite well engineered chargers and battery’s, the diameter of the cabling was to small.

Still, the laws of thermodynamics stand.
Battery’s also go into thermal runaway.

[GeronL]

The VOLT cars should be powered by pedals.