3 ms·

I wonder if they will start putting lithium batteries in desktops so they can draw higher peak power.

jbarrow 2y ago
There's a company doing that for stovetops, which I found really interesting (https://www.impulselabs.com https://www.impulselabs.com)! Unfortunately, when training on a desktop it's _relatively_ continuous power draw, and can go on for days. :/
- SequoiaHope 2y ago
  Yeah that stove is what I was thinking of! And good point on training. I don't know what use cases would be supported by a battery, but there's a marketable one I am sure we will hear about it.
ryao 2y ago
They already use capacitors for that.
- SequoiaHope 2y ago
  Batteries and capacitors would serve different functions. Capacitors primarily isolate each individual chip and subsystem on a PCB from high frequency power fluctuations when digital circuits switch or larger loads turn on or off. You would still need to use capacitors for that. The purpose of the batteries would be to support high loads on the order of minutes that exceed the actual wall plug capacity to deliver electricity. I am thinking specifically of the stove linked in your sibling comment, which uses lithium batteries to provide sustained bursts of power to boil a pot of water in tens of seconds without exceeding the power ratings of the wall plug.
  - ryao 2y ago
    It is the same function on different time scales. If you had a big enough capacitor, you could achieve the same thing. Not coincidentally, the capacitors in PSUs are huge, although not battery sized in terms of capacity. The purpose of the capacitors in the PSU is to keep things powered during a power outage to allow for a UPS to switch to battery. The technical term for this is PSU hold up time.
    - SequoiaHope 2y ago
      I consider smoothing out high frequency power fluctuations and providing power over a period of minutes that exceeds the capacity of the wall plug to be conceptually two different functions, even if they have similarities. You’re right that a large enough capacitor could do that, and I’ve worked with high voltage supercapacitor systems which can provide tens of watts for minutes, but the cost is so high that lithium batteries typically make more sense.

There's a company doing that for stovetops, which I found really interesting (https://www.impulselabs.com https://www.impulselabs.com)! Unfortunately, when training on a desktop it's _relatively_ continuous power draw, and can go on for days. :/

SequoiaHope 2y ago
Yeah that stove is what I was thinking of! And good point on training. I don't know what use cases would be supported by a battery, but there's a marketable one I am sure we will hear about it.

ryao 2y ago

They already use capacitors for that.

SequoiaHope 2y ago
Batteries and capacitors would serve different functions. Capacitors primarily isolate each individual chip and subsystem on a PCB from high frequency power fluctuations when digital circuits switch or larger loads turn on or off. You would still need to use capacitors for that. The purpose of the batteries would be to support high loads on the order of minutes that exceed the actual wall plug capacity to deliver electricity. I am thinking specifically of the stove linked in your sibling comment, which uses lithium batteries to provide sustained bursts of power to boil a pot of water in tens of seconds without exceeding the power ratings of the wall plug.
- ryao 2y ago
  It is the same function on different time scales. If you had a big enough capacitor, you could achieve the same thing. Not coincidentally, the capacitors in PSUs are huge, although not battery sized in terms of capacity. The purpose of the capacitors in the PSU is to keep things powered during a power outage to allow for a UPS to switch to battery. The technical term for this is PSU hold up time.
  - SequoiaHope 2y ago
    I consider smoothing out high frequency power fluctuations and providing power over a period of minutes that exceeds the capacity of the wall plug to be conceptually two different functions, even if they have similarities. You’re right that a large enough capacitor could do that, and I’ve worked with high voltage supercapacitor systems which can provide tens of watts for minutes, but the cost is so high that lithium batteries typically make more sense.