Wearable devices are small, which means that the size of the components need to be even smaller, battery included. And, although they use Bluetooth Low Energy, they still need to be charged frequently. Efficient battery power for wearable devices is a major challenge for designers, so when designing, it’s important to weigh the options.
Lithium-ion batteries are a decent option, as they have finally taken the lead over nickel-cadmium batteries. For powering wearable devices, usually smaller coin cell batteries are used. Another option is the pouch battery. It contains stacked batteries that are placed inside a plastic or polymer pouch cover.
Cons to using lithium-ion batteries are they are very small and light, they’re low maintenance because they require no memory, they’re disposable and cause little harm to the environment, and they have long lasting energy.
Some cons to this option are the capacity decreases with the size of the battery, they’re fragile, are subject to aging, and pouch batteries specifically have a high risk of explosion because there can be gas building up between the package and the battery.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)