The present invention relates to a method and a system for predicting the behavior of a secondary battery on the basis of a parameter measurement, and a secondary battery behavior prediction system of the present invention comprises: a parameter tester, which is connected to a secondary battery cell to be tested so as to control the operation of the secondary battery cell, and thus calculates one or more pieces of parameter information associated with the performance, heating and deterioration of the secondary battery cell from the measured data; and a data processing device for predicting behavior information about the performance, heating and deterioration of the secondary battery cell through behavior analysis based on the one or more pieces of parameter information received from the parameter tester.

A handheld lighting device comprises a cylindrical body forming an inner wall and an outer wall, and further having a distal end and a proximate end. The device comprises at least one peltier tile disposed along the outer wall and towards the proximate end of the cylindrical body, each of the at least one peltier tile having a first side for coming into contact with a user's hand and a second side which forms part of the inner wall of the cylindrical body. Also, at least one lighting element is disposed at least partially within and towards the distal end of the cylindrical body. The device includes a conversion component electrically connected to the at least one lighting element and the at least one peltier tile, and at least one cooling component is disposed within the cylindrical body and contacting the second side of the at least one peltier tile.

A method of cooling an optical sub-assembly includes operating a diode mounted to a diode submount structure and cooling the diode with a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) in thermal contact with the diode, wherein the diode is positioned between the diode submount structure and the TEC.

An integrated thermal sensor comprising photonic crystal elements that enable photonic elements for photonic sourcing, spectral switching and filtering, sensing of an exposed analyte and detection. In embodiments, applications are disclosed wherein these photonic elements provide a spectrophotometer, a photonic channel switch and a standalone sensor for toxic gases and vapors. An application coupled with a mobile phone is disclosed.

Various embodiments of energy storage elements for use in power converters are described. In one example embodiment, briefly, an integrated circuit (IC) for use with a power converter may comprise a first layer comprising a first set of devices disposed on a device face thereof; a second layer comprising a second set of devices disposed on a device face thereof; a first interconnect structure to be disposed between the first layer and an electrical interface, the first interconnect structure to electrically couple the first set of devices to one or more thru vias; and a second interconnect structure to be disposed between the first layer and the second layer, the second interconnect structure to electrically couple the second set of devices to the one or more thru vias. Likewise, in some instances, one or more thru vias may extend through at least one of the following: the first layer; the second layer; or any combination thereof.

A system on an integrated circuit (IC) chip includes an input terminal and a return terminal. A heater coupled between the input terminal and the return terminal. A thermopile is spaced apart from the heater by a galvanic isolation region. A switch device includes a control input coupled to an output of the thermopile. The switch device is coupled to at least one output terminal of the IC chip.

A fast-rate thermoelectric device control system includes a fast-rate thermoelectric device, a sensor, and a controller. The fast-rate thermoelectric device includes a thermoelectric actuator array disposed on a wafer, and the thermoelectric actuator array includes a thin-film thermoelectric (TFTE) actuator that generates a heating and/or a cooling effect in response to an electrical current. The sensor is configured to measure a temperature associated with the heating or cooling effect and output a feedback signal indicative of the measured temperature. The controller is in communication with the fast-rate thermoelectric device and the sensor, and is configured to control the electrical current based on the feedback signal.

A method of fabricating a thermoelectric converter that includes providing a layer of a Silicon-based material having a first surface and a second surface, opposite to and separated from the first surface by a Silicon-based material layer thickness; forming a plurality of first thermoelectrically active elements of a first thermoelectric semiconductor material having a first Seebeck coefficient, and forming a plurality of second thermoelectrically active elements of a second thermoelectric semiconductor material having a second Seebeck coefficient, wherein the first and second thermoelectrically active elements are formed to extend through the Silicon-based material layer thickness, from the first surface to the second surface; forming electrically conductive interconnections in correspondence of the first surface and of the second surface of the layer of Silicon-based material, for electrically interconnecting the plurality of first thermoelectrically active elements and the plurality of second thermoelectrically active elements, and forming an input electrical terminal and an output electrical terminal electrically connected to the electrically conductive interconnections, wherein the first thermoelectric semiconductor material and the second thermoelectric semiconductor material comprise Silicon-based materials selected among porous Silicon or polycrystalline SiGe or polycrystalline Silicon.

A monolithically integrated multi-sensor (MIMS) is disclosed. A MIMs integrated circuit comprises a plurality of sensors. For example, the integrated circuit can comprise three or more sensors where each sensor measures a different parameter. The three or more sensors can share one or more layers to form each sensor structure. In one embodiment, the three or more sensors can comprise MEMs sensor structures. Examples of the sensors that can be formed on a MIMs integrated circuit are an inertial sensor, a pressure sensor, a tactile sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a microphone, a force sensor, a load sensor, a magnetic sensor, a flow sensor, a light sensor, an electric field sensor, an electrical impedance sensor, a galvanic skin response sensor, a chemical sensor, a gas sensor, a liquid sensor, a solids sensor, and a biological sensor.

Integrated circuit devices which include a thermoelectric generator which recycles heat generated by operation of an integrated circuit, into electrical energy that is then used to help support the power requirements of that integrated circuit. Roughly described, the device includes an integrated circuit die having an integrated circuit thereon, the integrated circuit having power supply terminals for connection to a primary power source, and a thermoelectric generator structure disposed in sufficient thermal communication with the integrated circuit die so as to derive, from heat generated by the die, a voltage difference across first and second terminals of the thermoelectric generator structure. A powering structure is arranged to help power the integrated circuit, from the voltage difference across the first and second terminals of the thermoelectric generator. The thermoelectric generator can include IC packaging material that is made from thermoelectric semiconductor materials.