This tiny pin could be the battery in your next wearable gadget. At least, that’s what Panasonic is hoping for with their new CG-320 battery, a tiny pin-shaped rechargeable battery built to target the growing wearables market.
Measuring just 20mm long and 3.5mm in diameter, it’s about 1/20th the size of AAA batteries, making it ideal for use in small electronics like smartwatches, fitness bands, and smart glasses. With its compact size and low weight, the battery modules are expected to help facilitate the design of smaller wearables, making them less clunky in appearance compared to many of the current devices in the market.
The Panasonic CG-320 has a capacity of just 13mAh, so it’s strictly for power-sipping gadgets. Recent advances in efficient power management make it a viable option, though, as we’ve seen in many modern gadgets that pack low-power batteries (e.g. the Jawbone Up’s 32mAh battery, for instance, can last two weeks on a charge). It carries a voltage of 3.75 V, which is enough to enable Bluetooth and NFC communication with smartphones, among other things.
Design is similar to conventional cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, with negative and positive electrode sheets wrapped around each other inside a small stainless steel tube. We’re not sure if it’s feasible, but that pin shape sure does make it seem easy to swap battery modules on the go – something we’re hoping the next generation of wearables do make a point of allowing.
Aside from the CG-320, Panasonic is developing slightly larger 30 mAh and 50 mAh versions. Mass production for the tiny batteries is expected to commence in January of next year.