Power Supply, You’re Fired!

This post isn’t about cars at all. But let’s start from there — specifically, the transmissions.

Gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles need transmissions because internal combustion engines have a narrow range between their minimum and maximum speed. They also require a clutch mechanism because engines can’t start from zero.

On the other hand, electric vehicles (EVs) don’t have these problems and don’t need transmissions or clutches. Electric motors can deliver torque at zero RPM and go up to top speed without changing gears. 

Being “always in gear” gives EVs an edge because all transmissions are heavy, complex pieces of mechanical engineering feat with thousands of moving parts requiring special fluids and attention.

Somewhat ironically, electric appliances, power tools, industrial equipment, microchips, LED lamps, and countless electric-powered devices are much more like an old-school car — they require a power supply with a narrow voltage range.

For example, a blender may only work between 110 and 130 Volts, and a microchip may have a range of 4.5V to 5.5V. It won’t do a thing with 4V, and smoke comes out if you feed it 6V. 

To accommodate this finickyness, electric grid stability is vital for economies from Argentina to Zimbabwe. In fact, billions are spent on it annually. Meanwhile, power supply design is a massive discipline in electronic engineering.

All electronic gizmos include a power supply — a circuit that takes a voltage from a source and converts it to a voltage that whatever is inside a device can work with. For example, the battery in your iPhone gives off 3V to 4.3V. One of the many power supply circuits in there converts this input to, say, 1.8V +/- 5% for the chips to do their magic.

Power supplies, in essence, are the electric equivalent of the transmission in a gasoline or diesel car.

Few people realize that so much power conversion is happening around us all the time. Others — like product designers and electronic engineers — take such conversions as a given. You may consider it a necessary evil if you look under the hood and realize how cumbersome it is to solve a hardware problem by piling on more hardware.

These power supplies take up space and require a lot of engineering — lengthening the time to market and increasing product development costs. Additionally, designing even moderately energy-efficient power supplies is challenging and expensive. Power supplies with 85% efficiency are considered pretty darn good. Yet, 15% of all energy is still lost as heat!

How can we take power supplies out of the equation? For example, the ability to change output voltages without performing power conversion would go a long way.

Of course, that was never, ever done before. So, we set out to solve this impossible challenge and address this hardware problem with software-defined batteries (SDBs).

With our solutions, like the Tanktwo Smartpak, operators can change voltages without any power conversion step. Product builders can eliminate the need for power supplies and the associated costs.

So, how does it work?

Physics requires that most devices be fed a specific voltage. Electric motors might run faster or burn out altogether if you give them more volts. The trick is to deliver and sustain power within a narrow range by combining the right number of cells in series and parallel — and this is what our software does.

But power requirements aren’t always static. What if a chainsaw meets a big old sequoia and needs more power? With SDBs, the software automatically wires more cells in the string to achieve the required voltage or current. What if the cells age and lose their oomph? We can pair them with stronger cells in parallel or get them to work half-time while the “fitter” cells in the pack work a complete duty cycle.

To make all of these steps work reliably requires the seamless coordination of hardware, software, algorithms, and business logic. Enter the dynamic duo of Tanktwo’s Dycromax™️ architecture and the Tanktwo Battery Operating System (TBOS).

The Dycromax architecture is Tanktwo’s patented circuit topology. A unique combination of Gallium Nitride MOSFETs makes it possible to wire cells up to make the net output voltage of a battery pack software configurable (i.e., you can change the voltage via a dashboard with a few clicks instead of opening up a device, appliance, or equipment.)

Meanwhile, TBOS takes care of all the measurements, calculations, switch controls, and supervisory tasks required to make it work and keep the system operating safely.

The net result is that SDBs can provide a voltage with only a small variation, allowing product designers to omit a power supply altogether for many applications. For those where eliminating the power supply isn't possible, the narrow input voltage range makes it much easier to design an efficient power supply.

The idea of doing away with power supplies/power conversions is like talking about transmission-less vehicles not so long ago — an outlandish idea. But we’re looking at a future where many power supplies in battery-powered devices will become obsolete.

While we can’t claim you can efficiently power a DDR-5 RAM chip at 1.1V by juggling lithium cells, our technology can make many higher voltage devices work without any power conversion in the classical sense of the term — increasing efficiency, lowering costs, improving safety, and profoundly impacting battery and mobile device power management.

For decades, the engineering mantra has been you need a power supply for every piece of electronics. It may take a while before the concept of eliminating power supplies sinks in. We’re looking at one of those rare once-in-a-decennium paradigm shifts that sneak up on you: Suddenly, a telephone no longer needs a wire; a car no longer needs flammable juice; a camera no longer needs a roll of film; an electronic device no longer needs a power supply.  

Hit us up at contact@tanktwo.com (or just hit reply) to see how we can help you solve your Big Hairy Battery Problem. We also offer consulting services in electronics, power management, energy optimization, and more. The nerdier, the better.