Duke University brain science researchers are hoping to use electronics they developed for non-invasive brain stimulation to revolutionize energy storage technology, making batteries safer, more efficient and less expensive.
The idea to apply brain science technologies to battery technology came from Stefan Goetz, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, electrical engineering and neurosurgery, along with a colleague, Angel Peterchev, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
For more than a decade Goetz has been creating electronics for non-invasive brain stimulation that allow signals from outside the brain to be processed and acted on inside the brain, he explained.
However, he also had some experience with cars. “I started my Ph.D with an advisor who was a power engineer who worked on drives for vehicles,” he said. “I knew a little about it and recognized the problems with batteries. It appeared to me they could be solved if you modified some of the circuits.”
He and his colleagues started looking for funding. They received funding from Duke University’s Energy Research Seed Fund for developing a prototype battery and conversion system, $500,000 from the National Science Foundation for developing, along with other researchers, control systems to optimize use of the battery system, plus car-part donations from Toyota and BMW, said Goetz.
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