Linear Battery Tech FAQ

Our technology is called an “energy pump” which is a hardware means of regulating the output power envelope of a battery. While traditional battery power regulation only regulates power within small variations from the battery, we invented a way to “linearize” it across the entire energy life of the battery, continuing to power devices past when the battery is normally assumed to be dead. We do this by working with traditional regulation techniques to pull only the necessary power from the battery during normal operation, and then pumping the remaining power by continuously trading current for voltage using our proprietary technology.

Our energy pump technology is designed to operate in tandem with existing battery management systems, including regulators. We are not only shifting voltage levels to drive electronic components, but are continuously optimizing the power envelope by trading current for voltage in order to meet application needs. Our technology can be integrated in between the battery and existing regulation circuitry, or built as part of existing power regulation directly for a more integrated battery management system.

A charge pump circuit is one of several types of voltage regulators. It uses a combination of capacitors switched on and off at various times to increase or decrease a supplied input voltage. Due to the non-instantaneous response of capacitors when used for energy storage, these regulators have restricted use. In contrast, Linear Battery Tech’s energy pump concept uses magnetic fields to store transient energy, providing the response and large boosting range needed to recover the residual energy stored in the dying battery.

Our first technology prototypes were geared toward low power applications due to speed of development and initial customer targets. While the operating principles behind Linear Battery Tech’s energy pump are equally applicable to high power applications, it will bring additional design considerations such as heat dissipation and high power component selection to ensure safe and reliable operation.

An energy pump can be used with virtually any battery chemistry. We have tested our energy pump design with a variety of both primary and secondary battery types including alkaline, zinc, lithium, silver oxide, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, and lithium-ion cells.

While the energy pump could be embedded directly into the battery cells themselves, most device manufacturers operate independent of the battery manufacturers. With that in mind, it may be more practical to integrate the energy pump into existing battery management hardware or as a third party adapter inserted in between the battery cells and the power management hardware.

Yes. Our system is designed to only be engaged when necessary, often just before the existing power management system would shut off. Our energy pump technology then shifts the power envelope of the battery to continue providing the required application voltage. Once the energy pump is unable to continue boosting the power output, the system shuts just as it normally would, but after having run for a longer time. Our technology is customized to each application to ensure the battery (particularly secondary rechargeable cells) is disconnected before harmful deep discharging occurs.

The implementation of an energy pump is generally much more cost-effective than adding the equivalent additional battery capacity. Also, the size and weight of the energy pump circuitry will be substantially less than the additional battery capacity it displaces.

Yes. The energy pump circuitry is constructed from standard electronic components with well-known supply chains and recycling paths. The energy pump replaces additional equivalent battery capacity that can be prone to recycling challenges.

Virtually any battery-powered system can benefit from an energy pump. Ranging from flashlights to drones and EVs, to industrial uninterruptable power supplies.

Our first technology prototypes were geared toward low power applications due to speed of development and initial customer targets. The operating principles behind Linear Battery Tech’s energy pump are equally applicable to high power applications subject to additional design considerations such as heat dissipation and high power component selection to ensure safe and reliable operation.

To date we have 2 issued US patents: US9441799 and US11300988B2. Our initial prototypes were designed toward lower power applications, with later IP filings and design targeting high power applications.