| Updated 12/15/2003 - Energy Conversion Devices, Nasdaq ENER, owns the patents on several technologies that will become part of our everyday lives:
1. Nickel Metal Hydride batteries - Being manufactured by licensees and available in stores now.
2. CDRW and DVDRW disks - Being manufactured by licensees and avaiable in stores now.
3. Solar Panels - Available now through solar outlets, and being used by large roofing contractors,
4. Hydride tanks for hydrogen storage - Under development jointly with Texaco.
5. Non-volatile computer memory - Under development with Intel, STMicroelectronics and Lockheed.
6. Regenerative Fuel Cell - Under development.
More Detailed Information
1. ECD's rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride batteries (about 1 billion yearly and rapidly growing) are quickly replacing Nickel Cadmium in many consumer products such as cell phones and camcorders. NiMH batteries don't have the memory effect problem associated with NiCads, while having a greater energy storage capacity, are non-toxic, and don't have the inherent potential fire hazard of Lithium based batteries. ECD has signed license agreements with most of the major battery companies (17), and receives royalties from them.
On July 18, 2001 Texaco and ECD announced the formation of Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems, a new strategic alliance to bring advanced Nickel Metal Hydride batteries into widespread commercial production as well as to further develop them for non-automotive applications. These batteries are used to power hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), as well as starter, lighting and ignition batteries, including the important new 36-42 volt applications. Non-automotive applications are also planned. NiMH car batteries have more than double the storage capacity of lead acid. General Motors has designated Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems as a preferred supplier for its NiMH battery requirements for EVs and HEVs and other automotive applications. Funding from Texaco for NiMH battery related activities will total more than $150 million over the next few years.
In Jan., 2001, Sanyo, a licensee, announced that they were selected by Ford to provide the batteries for it's first hybrid car. The Honda and Toyota hybrids already are using NiMH batteries.
2. CDRW drives are now standard equipment on most computers being sold. ECD receives royalties on all CDRW (rewritable) disks sold. When a DVD rewritable format for computers is agreed on, ECD will also receive royalties on those disks . ECD's phase change disks can be written to up to 100,000 times and last 100 years.
On Jan. 5, 2000 Panasonic announced that it will market its first DVD video recorder, model VDR- 10000. The long-awaited DVD-RAM recorder allows consumers to digitally record video on DVD-RAM discs. When connected to home theater components, the Panasonic VDR-10000 enables consumers to enjoy playback of multiple digital entertainment formats. Boasting extraordinary picture quality, multi disc (DVD/CD) playback capability, digital recording and random-access capability, the VDR-10000 is the ultimate high-end audio/video home entertainment product. The Panasonic VDR-10000 uses as its recording medium the newly developed 4.7GB high-capacity DVD-RAM optical disc, model VDR-HB47, which supports real- time MPEG2 compressed video recording. A single-sided 4.7GB DVD-RAM disc can record 2 hours of high-quality motion video in the SP mode and maximum 4 hours recording in the LP mode. Other manufacturers are sure to follow with their DVD recorders.
DVD+RW CD+RW and the DVD video recorders all use ECD's phase change discs. Every disc sold will generate royalties for ECD. On 3/15/2000, GE Plastics, a unit of General Electric Company, and ECD announced that they have formed a JV to design, develop, demonstrate and commercialize continuous web roll-to-roll technology for the ultra-high-speed manufacture of optical media products, primarily rewritable DVDs. The products incorporate and advance both ECD's phase change and GE's optical quality polycarbonate materials. No matter which DVD rewritable format wins out, it will use ECD's technology. DVD disks are forecast by analysts to surpass videotape worldwide in 2003.
3. Solar panels. ECD has developed a roll to roll process of manufacturing solar cells. A thin film of amorphous silicon is deposited on a continuous roll of stainless steel in a vacuum machine, also developed by ECD, capable of producing 30 megawatts of panels annually. The company believes their continuous roll manufacturing process is inherently cheaper than the batch process implicit in single crystal silicon PV manufacture, and costs will fall as production increases. It's flexible steel backed panels are rugged and uniquely suited as building integrated photovoltaics, unlike the glass clad crystalline solar panels. Unisolar has licensed Solar Integrated Technologies for large scale commercial solar roofing projects. solarintegrated.com
Several European companies are using our solar panels, including ThyssenKrupp and Sunset Energietechnik.
ECD is also able to deposit the silicon on a lightweight, flexible substrate that can be unrolled like a window shade for satellite use. A test solar array was successfully tested on the Mir Space Station. The U.S. Air Force has selected Unisolar to supply it's panels for an experimental satellite.
Lockheed Martin has awarded unisolar a contract to deliver solar cells on polymer substrates for evaluation on it's High Altitude Airship program.
Growth in solar is forecast at 30%+ per year, and we have a 30 MW plant up and running. Unisolar is a wholly owned subsidiary of ECD. uni-solar.com
<b.4. Hydrogen storage. ECD has developed a proprietary solid hydrogen storage system to provide the auto industry with an alternative to the on-board reforming of fossil fuels to obtain hydrogen for fuel cell cars. It is the enabling technology that should help speed the transition to hydrogen fuels. Hydrogen, often referred to as the ultimate fuel, contains no carbon and emits no pollution, with water vapor being its only byproduct. Almost unbelievably, a 1 liter propietary Ovonic hydride cannister will safely store, in a solid state, 40% more than a 1 liter bottle of liquid hydrogen, at low pressure, and allow rapid charge/discharge times. On May 2, 2000 Texaco purchased a 20 percent equity stake in ECD for $67.3 million. On Oct. 31, 2000, Texaco Energy Systems Inc.(TESI) and ECD announced the formation of Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems L.L.C., a 50-50 joint venture to further develop and advance the commercialization of ECDs technology to store hydrogen in metal hydrides. On 06/15/2000, Texaco's chairman remarked "In my hand is the potential solution to one of the trickiest hurdles between us and a hydrogen economy: a stable, cost-effective and rechargeable means of storing and transporting hydrogen. At present, hydrogen is stored and transported in a liquid or gaseous state, impractical, costly and potentially dangerous. With this remarkable technology, hydrogen can be stored in a solid state with none of the risks associated with these current methods."
It is expected that ECD's solid state hydride storage will be used in the coming fuel cell cars. It is also possible to run lawn mowers, tools, electronics and other devices with hydrogen safely stored in ECD's hydrides.
5. Non-volatile computer memory, also known as Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM). OUM utilizes a proprietary phase change chalcogenide alloy to store non-volatile information economically and with excellent solid state memory properties. A computer utilizing OUM could be turned off, then turned back on immediately, or 10 years later, and be started right up where it left off. These OUM computers would not be subject to critical data loss when the system hangs up or when power is abruptly lost as are present day computers using DRAM a/o SRAM.
With instant on operation, OUM computer users would not have to wait for the system to boot up and reload DRAM. OUM requires fewer steps in an IC manufacturing process resulting in reduced cycle times, fewer defects, and greater manufacturing flexibility. The operating speed of OUM memory technology is similar to DRAM and many orders of magnitude faster than Flash write. Also, unlike conventional Flash memory, OUM memory is randomly accessible for memory addressing. Further, Flash memory wears out (fails) after 100,000 write cycles, while the OUM memory state can be written greater than 10 trillion times, making this memory useful for program storage (Flash) as well as general purpose interactive (DRAM) data storage memory.
OUM has direct applications in all products presently using solid state memory, including desktop, laptop, and palm computers, cell phones, graphics-3D rendering, GPS, video conferencing, multi-media, Internet networking and interfacing, entertainment, digital TV, telecom, PDA, digital voice recorders, modems, DVD, networking (ATM), Ethernet, and pagers. OUM offers a way to realize full system-on-a-chip capability through integrating unified memory, linear, and logic on the same silicon chip.
On 2/8/2000, Ovonyx, a joint venture between Energy Conversion Devices and Tyler Lowrey, former Chief Technical Officer and COO of Micron Technology, announced it has licensed its OUM memory technology to Intel and that the two companies will work together to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of high-density, non-volatile memory based on the technology. Intel has invested an undisclosed amount in Ovonyx.
BAE Systems, a licensee, has non-volatile, radiation hardened test chips available for use in space and military applications. Their assessment of OUM, and a roadmap for their product introduction plans can be found here. ovonyx.com
In May, 2004 STMicroelectronics, a licensee, reported that it is entering a product-oriented phase using OUM. "We are accelerating the effort on chalcogenide memory. We will going to start designing a real product this quarter. It's also good for embedded applications as it is on a CMOS base," he added. ovonyx.com
6. Ovonic Regenerative Fuel Cell. ECDs unique, low-cost, proprietary non-noble metal catalyst materials technology gives the Ovonic Regenerative Fuel Cell significantly superior performance, higher efficiency, and lower costs compared to other technologies, such as Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
Texaco and Chevron agreed to merge in Oct. 2000. Chevron has expressed its strong support and excitement to be working with ECD. ChevronTexaco will aggressively pursue the commercialization of all ECD energy technologies.
Stan Ovshinsky, the founder of Energy Conversion Devices, has been called by some as one of the greatest inventors of our century. Any one of these technologies that he invented has the potential to generate huge revenues. ECD has so many breakthrough technologies, that are just beginning to pay off, that it is almost like investing in a high-tech mutual fund.
More information can be found at ECD's web site, ovonic.com |
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