LANDSDOWNE LABS, LLC, has been awarded US patent 11,469,465 B2 for a novel battery coating aimed at preventing small, coin-like “button batteries” from causing bodily injuries when swallowed, the company announced yesterday. Such injuries impact many thousands of individuals each year–the vast majority of them children under age 6, who accidentally swallow batteries used to power consumer devices.
Billions of such batteries are sold each year for use in remote controls, flashlights, cameras, key fobs, hearing aids, among other devices, and the use of such devices, and increasingly powerful ones, is on the rise. By 2030, 125 billion consumer devices are expected to be sold globally, many powered by coin cells.”
Battery companies commonly attempt to prevent ingestion injuries by using child-proof packaging; to date, efforts to develop batteries minimizing risk of such injuries have been largely unsuccessful.
“We believe our new battery coating has the potential to reduce serious injuries that impact many thousands of lives,” said Melissa Fensterstock, the Landsdowne CEO.
Landsdowne’s technology was initiated in the MIT and Harvard laboratories of Drs. Robert Langer and Jeff Karp. It employs niobium (a mineral found in the earth’s crust), which may be embodied in a variety of casing materials and designs, to rapidly deactivate electrolytic current when a battery is immersed in an electrically conductive aqueous environment such as the esophagus or GI tract.
Studies show that electrical current flow in these environments can cause acute injuries– such as trachea-esophageal and other GI perforations, strictures, chemical burns, or vocal paralysis. Some injuries may be permanent, life altering or deadly. Many thousands of children, the elderly, and pets are especially at risk.
Landsdowne has tested its novel coating in multiple forms, both in-vitro and ex-vivo, to ensure that it is effective. The company has also confirmed that the coating is compatible with current manufacturing practices, according to Ravikumar Vasudevan, PhD, Landsdowne’s Vice President of Engineering. “We are very excited that our solution mitigates ingestion injury in a single component that will not require major changes by manufacturers. ”
In the words of Bryan Laulicht, PhD, co-founder and chief technology officer at Landsdowne, “Our latest innovation drastically improves button battery safety by rapidly shutting down electrical activity when exposed to biological environments, while preserving function in legacy devices.”
Robert S. Langer, D.Sc., David H. Koch University Professor at MIT, said: “I am pleased that the new Landsdowne technology has received a patent, which is a key step toward its adoption by the battery industry.”
Landsdowne Labs, LLC, formed in 2017, is a spinout from the laboratories of world-renowned Robert Langer at MIT and of Jeff Karp at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston. The company’s first product, ChildLok, is an innovative button battery technology designed to deactivate batteries following accidental ingestion, made possible by advanced material science. Landsdowne Labs is commercializing this groundbreaking technology for global companies seeking a turnkey, low-cost solution to the growing button battery health crisis. Landsdowne is headquartered in Fairfield, CT.
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