Nuclear battery: Chinese firm aiming for mass market production

The BV100 battery (Image: Betavolt)

Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Company Ltd claims to have developed a miniature atomic energy battery that can generate electricity stably and autonomously for 50 years without the need for charging or maintenance. It said the battery is currently in the pilot stage and will be put into mass production on the market.

Atomic energy batteries - also known as nuclear batteries or radioisotope batteries - work on the principle of utilising the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes and converting it into electrical energy through semiconductor converters.

Betavolt, which was established in April 2021, says its battery "combines nickel-63 nuclear isotope decay technology and China's first diamond semiconductor (4th generation semiconductor) module to successfully realise the miniaturisation of atomic energy batteries".

The company's team of scientists developed a unique single-crystal diamond semiconductor that is just 10 microns thick, placing a 2-micron-thick nickel-63 sheet between two diamond semiconductor converters. The decay energy of the radioactive source is converted into an electrical current, forming an independent unit. Betavolt said its nuclear batteries are modular and can be composed of dozens or hundreds of independent unit modules and can be used in series and parallel, so battery products of different sizes and capacities can be manufactured.

The composition of a nuclear battery (Image: Betavolt)

Betavolt says its batteries can meet the needs of long-lasting power supply in multiple scenarios such as aerospace, AI equipment, medical equipment, micro-electromechanical systems, advanced sensors, small drones and micro-robots. "If policies allow, atomic energy batteries can allow a mobile phone to never be charged, and drones that can only fly for 15 minutes can fly continuously," it said.

The first battery that the company plans to launch is the BV100, which it claims will be the world's first nuclear battery to be mass-produced. Measuring 15mm by 15mm and 5 mm thick, the battery can generate 100 microwatts, with a voltage of 3V. The company plans to launch a 1-watt battery in 2025.

Betavolt says its atomic energy battery is "absolutely safe, has no external radiation, and is suitable for use in medical devices such as pacemakers, artificial hearts, and cochleas in the human body". It adds: "Atomic energy batteries are environmentally friendly. After the decay period, the nickel-63 isotope as the radioactive source turns into a stable isotope of copper, which is non-radioactive and does not pose any threat or pollution to the environment."

The company plans to continue research on using isotopes such as strontium-90, promethium-147 and deuterium to develop atomic energy batteries with higher power and a service life of 2-30 years.Researched and written by World Nuclear News. Nuclear battery: Chinese firm aiming for mass market production : Corporate - World Nuclear News

Read More........→January 31, 2024

1st baby pangolin in Europe born in Prague zoo, doing well

A baby Chinese pangolin is being weighed at the Prague Zoo, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. A female baby of Chinese pangolin has been born in the Prague zoo on Feb 2, 2023, as the first birth of the critically endangered animal on the European continent, and was doing well, the park said. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

PRAGUE (AP) — A Chinese pangolin has been born in the Prague zoo, the first birth of the critically endangered animal in captivity in Europe, and is doing well after initial troubles, the park said on Thursday.

For the first few days after the baby female was born on Feb 2, park keepers were worried because it was losing weight.

The reason was found to be that the mother, Run Hou Tang, didn’t have enough milk. Following consultations with experts from Taiwan, a program of artificial feeding with milk from a cat was introduced and the mother was stimulated to produce more of her own.

That turned things around with the zoo now expressing cautious optimism about the pup, which still has no name but has been nicknamed “Little Cone” because it resembles a spruce cone.

Prague received the rare animals from Taiwan last year, becoming only the second European zoo to keep the species.

Guo Bao, the male pangolin, and Run Hou Tang both came from the Taipei zoo, the leading breeder of the mammals that are hunted heavily for their scales and meat.

It’s estimated that almost 200,000 were trafficked in 2019 because of the scales that are used in traditional medicine in Asia and elsewhere.

The pangolins’ arrival in Prague came after relations with China became strained, among other reasons, after Prague decided to revoke a sister-city agreement with Beijing and signed a similar deal in 2020 with the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. That agreement also included cooperation between the zoos of the two cities.

Taiwan split from mainland China amid a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers the self-ruled island part of its territory.The Czech government recognizes the one-China principle but Prague officials said they wanted to focus on cultural and other cooperation, not on politics. Source: https://yourvalley.net/

Read More........→February 24, 2023

Now ‘Cat Que’ virus is spreading like wildfire in China!

The new terror is called the cat que virus. Although the whole world, including India, is looking for a way out to get rid of coronavirus infection, the new virus is spreading like wildfire. And again, this time too, the epicenter of this new virus is China; reports several Indian portals according to the medical experts’ warnings, that the new virus could be brought to India from China as before.

What are the symptoms of ‘cat que virus’ (CQV)?

Scientists associated with ICMR say that there is more than one symptom of the Cat Q virus. According to the news published in All India Media News – Mint, people infected with the Cat Que virus can get fever. Meningitis, pediatric encephalitis can also occur.

What is the cat que virus?

Scientists say the Cat que virus is a type of airborne virus that is carried by other animals. So far one existence has been observed in China and Vietnam. The ICMR says mosquitoes are the main carriers of the Cat Que virus. The main carriers of this virus are Azepti, Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex trichinarinicus. Pigs, on the other hand, can also carry the virus in mammals.

The CQV is arthropod-borne viruses or arboviruses. China and Vietnam have reported the presence of CQV inside culex mosquitoes and pigs.

According to the ICMR study, data has revealed that Indian mosquitoes, namely, aegypti, Cx. Quinquefasciatus, and Cx. Tritaeniorhynchus, are susceptible to the CQV. Swines are the primary mammalian host of the CQV. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

Read More........→September 29, 2020

Apps from Hyd vying to fill void left by ban on Chinese apps

Hyderabad : At a time when Corornavirus induced lockdown forced people to stay indoors and look for avenues of social engagement, and the recent ban on Chinese apps created a void, few mobile applications developed by Hyderabad-based firms have caught the imagination of consumers.

These 'made in Hyderabad' apps have emerged hot favourites and are witnessing tremendous downloads on both GooglePlay store and Apple iStore.

The ban on popular Chinese apps, led to Dubshoot emerging as a favourite video-sharing social networking platform among the regional language speaking netizens of India. Developed by mTouch Labs, the platform is witnessing over 15,000 new user-shared videos getting added every day, making it one of the largest social networking mobile application in the country.

"People of India have given a thumbs up to the Prime Minister's call to use Made in India goods and platforms, and we see that happening across all avenues including mobile applications," said P. Venkateswara Rao, CEO & Co-founder, Dubshoot.

He pointed out that even before a ban was imposed on Chinese mobile applications, many users were shifting their loyalty towards home grown platforms like Dubshoot. "It's evident from the fact that Dubshoot attracted close to half a million users base before June, a number that is rising at unprecedented rate since last week," Rao said.

"A technically strong platform, Dubshoot has plenty of features including content creation tools like dub videos for dialogues once rendered by celebrities in cinema or otherwise. This user generated content platform is supported in all Indian regional languages along with Hindi and English. While user privacy is assured, Dubshoot never uploads content without user's consent to do so," added Rao.

In addition to a large user base in India, Dubshoot is fast attracting as a favourite among users from the United States, Middle East nations, Sri Lanka and other countries.

VacYa, is another mobile application made in the city of pearls that witnessed tremendous growth during the nation-wide lockdown being observed for over three months. The platform now has over 1,00,000 signups as the software has been made available for free during these unsettling times of Covid-19 and today it is the largest 'Made in India' unified communications and collaboration platform, say the developers.

VacYa Meet helps enable enterprise employees, virtual teams, and custom vertical users in fields including government, healthcare, education, and more to collaborate in real-time as though they were working in the same room. VacYa's solutions help simplify business processes, improve results, and increase efficiency in daily activities with security being a fundamental parameter.

"Thousands of people have used our platform already and it is growing at a steady pace. Users appreciate the simplicity of the product. VacYa makes security the top priority in the design, development, deployment, and maintenance of its networks, platforms, and applications," said Chandra S. Potineni, Founder, VacYa.

According to him, the product is built on the latest WebRTC signalling and media standards, adhering to all required security protocols. The VacYa platform supports adaptive bandwidth management to ensure that each participant is independently managed, working to maintain the overall quality of the meeting experience for every participant.

As mandated by the government, VacYa focuses on data localization and privacy. All VacYa India meetings happen locally on Indian servers. With the government banning some foreign-made mobile applications, he feels VacYa is well positioned to be the solution of choice for India with their data localization and security.

Another fast-emerging prospect in the lot is Just-A-Sec, a location-based information services app that runs on an augmented reality platform. This app provides consumers with a great user experience when seeking information. It serves as a single point of reference to provide consumers with location-specific information. A consumer will receive personalized notifications based on preset preferences which means that the App works as an intuitive tool to search, view, and locate the places that one finds interesting and want to know more about. Source: https://english.madhyamam.com/

Read More........→July 24, 2020

China operates world's biggest radio telescope to discover 'laws of universe'

World's largest radio telescope has become operational in southwestern China, with officials in Beijing saying that the project will help scientists search for alien life.

Since the early 1930s, when the first primitive radio telescopes began operating in an attempt to hunt for alien radio signals, astronomers have been busy sifting through the data collected from the immensity of the space to detect the faintest radio signals transmitted from a supposed alien civilization and to help the mankind feel, at last, that its loneliness in the incomprehensible universe is finally eased. The latest of such scientific endeavors is the world’s biggest radio telescope made by Chinese scientists and unveiled on Sunday.

The Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), measuring 500 meters in diameter, is erected in a scenic karst valley in Pingtang county, a mountainous area in the southeastern province of Guizhou in China.

The gigantic telescope, which took five years and devoured some $180 million to complete, clearly demonstrates China's growing ambitions in outer space explorations and its vigorous pursuit of global scientific prestige. 

The new Chinese telescope, whose massive dish is made of 4,450 panels, dwarfs the half-a-century old Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, since its sensitivity is twice as the old pal with a reflector as big as 30 football fields. The speed of FAST in surveying is also five to 10 times more than that of the Arecibo Observatory.

The 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is seen at the final stage of construction, in the mountains in Pingtang county, Guizhou province, China. (Photo by Reuters)

“The ultimate goal of FAST is to discover the laws of the development of the universe,” said Qian Lei, an associate researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in remarks broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday.

“In theory, if there is civilization in outer space, the radio signal it sends will be similar to the signal we can receive when a pulsar (spinning neutron star) is approaching us,” Qian added.

The huge Chinese cosmic ear requires a radio silence within a five-kilometer radius, therefore the 8,000 residents of the eight villages in the vicinity of the telescope site were forced to abandon their homes.

According to state media, the displaced villagers would be compensated, in the form of cash or new houses, from a budget of $269 million.

The CCTV report said that FAST managed to receive radio signals from a pulsar as far as 1,351 light years from the Earth during its recent test. Source: http://www.jokpeme.com

Read More........→October 19, 2016