Microsoft has long solved the most annoying battery problem, but why have you never heard of it?
Microsoft’s solution is so simple that it’s hard to understand why people wouldn’t think of it in the first place. If only someone had figured this out sooner, maybe we wouldn’t have had to grope in the dark every time we changed the batteries for our flashlights!
So let’s see what Microsoft’s initiative is, and why won’t you benefit from it?
Why install batteries in a predetermined order?
Batteries need to be installed in a predetermined order because of the design and operation of the electronic circuit board. Small devices that use direct current (DC) electricity, in which current flows continuously and in only one direction. There are many reasons why they can only use DC power and not AC power – and one of them has to do with the battery.
Batteries cannot store AC power; they only work with DC power. Since small devices are largely battery dependent, it makes sense for them to use DC power. In addition, the process of converting the battery’s DC current to AC current is also quite expensive and pointless. Even if there is an AC battery, there will be other problems that need to be solved, for example there are components that only work with DC current (such as LED bulbs), or the problem of power loss, and many other problems. in terms of design.
Since only DC current is supported, the battery must be installed in a predetermined order, i.e. its poles must point towards a specific end: the most common is the arrangement of the anode at one end, the cathode at the opposite end. Some batteries, such as the 9-volt battery, have two terminals at the same end, but must still be connected in a predetermined order for current to flow in the correct direction.
InstaLoad solves problems in a surprisingly simple way
InstaLoad is Microsoft’s solution for connecting the battery terminals in the correct order and allowing current to flow in the direction you want, no matter how the battery is inserted into the device. This solution modifies the battery compartment, so that each end has an anode and cathode contacts.
If you look closely at a battery, the flat end usually serves as the cathode, and the protruding end is the anode. If you insert the flat end of the battery, it will touch the outer contact point. If you insert the protruding end of the battery, it will touch the internal contact, which is designed to be slightly recessed from the outer contact. The two contacts of the battery compartment are connected in series to ensure that the current always flows in the predetermined direction.
As such, devices using InstaLoad always ensure that there is a positive and negative contact point at both ends of the battery compartment, and still use DC current. No matter how you insert the battery, it will still connect to the correct port, and the current will still flow the way you want it to.
Microsoft claims this technology works with all commercially available replaceable batteries, including CR123, AA, AAA, C or D sizes. The InstaLoad system also works with rechargeable batteries.
Technology no one uses
Surprisingly, Microsoft actually patented the InstaLoad system back in…2010, but 12 years on, most people still haven’t heard of it!
For some unknown reason, perhaps time and money are two of the many barriers that keep the InstaLoad system from being widely available. Microsoft allows third parties to use InstaLoad under two conditions: the InstaLoad logo must be printed on the product, and a royalty fee must be paid – something many companies do when launching a new cutting-edge technology. The process is as follows: the third party needs to sign a non-disclosure agreement, do more research on InstaLoad, design a prototype with the InstaLoad battery system inside, and pay Microsoft a small fee. Obviously, this is much more expensive and complicated than just designing a standard battery compartment and leaving the consumer to do what so far no one has complained about!
Microsoft’s breakthrough came too late
Control Roku with built-in rechargeable battery
Today’s modern devices don’t necessarily use replaceable batteries. Built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and USB charging ports, are growing in popularity, even making their way into many pocket radios and flashlights, which still use AA or AAA batteries. several years before. Even the TV remote comes with a built-in rechargeable battery.
Devices that still use replacement batteries probably only exist in the popular segment. For example, a radio with AAA batteries costs as little as $9. Traditional battery compartments use a system that is simple, inexpensive, and easy to manufacture. Replacing them with Microsoft’s InstaLoad system not only increased production costs for companies specializing in cheap radios or flashlights, but also complicated the design so much that they would rather integrate rechargeable batteries inside. device even more.
InstaLoad’s Dark Future
If Microsoft had removed the cumbersome regulations and fees mentioned above, InstaLoad could have been more popular. This system obviously has an advantage over the standard battery compartment, but unfortunately comes at a time when other more convenient solutions are slowly gaining in popularity.
On the one hand, Microsoft could not be more famous when their logo is printed on a mountain of low-cost devices. On the other hand, they patented InstaLoad more than a decade ago, so making it open source technology doesn’t hurt much.
Last problem: Microsoft also deprecated InstaLoad
After a decade of silence, it’s hard to see why InstaLoad couldn’t be popular. Perhaps the most obvious reason is that even Microsoft doesn’t use it.
The company owns a patent for the system and is free to use it as you wish. They have developed it, and know the applicability of this product. With the orientation as a simple solution, InstaLoad should not have made the production costs of the devices that integrate it so high, minus the royalty fee.
Many Microsoft devices, including Xbox controllers and computer mice, also use replaceable batteries. Therefore, the company has no shortage of places to apply its breakthrough technology. But even the creator of InstaLoad, which holds ownership and excess of resources and resources, leaves it alone, so why should anyone else use this technology?
Reference: ReviewGeeks
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
