Search Results Found For: "Battery venting"

Scheugenpflug’s high-speed thermal paste dispenser offers faster battery production and less downtime

Thermal paste is essential for preventing overheating and short circuits during battery operation. Unfortunately, its application is one of the slowest processes in battery pack production, as potting material is highly viscous and abrasive. Scheugenpflug, a provider of adhesive bonding, dispensing and potting solutions, has developed a new dispensing solution for thermal potting material that… Read more »

Battery prelithiation shortens costly formation time

Before a lithium-ion battery is installed in a vehicle, it must undergo a lengthy process called formation, in which it is charged and discharged to control the initial chemical reactions with lithium. Many of these reactions are irreversible and permanently decrease the battery’s available energy. The process requires expensive lithium to be part of the… Read more »

Southwest Research Institute consortium conducts independent battery benchmarking

Comparing the spec sheets from different parts manufacturers is tricky business for engineers in any industry. However, the advanced battery market seems to be uniquely challenged in this regard. As Tesla CEO Elon Musk often points out, when it comes to batteries, the BS factor is outrageous. Even if you assume that every vendor provides… Read more »

Computational design strategy extends battery life

Batteries are wonderful inventions, but like so many things in life, they don’t last. With every charge and discharge cycle, a battery’s capacity is reduced, until eventually it becomes inadequate for its application. “Why does this degradation occur?” muses Northwestern University’s Christopher Wolverton. “In many cases, something probably happened to the cathode.” Wolverton has developed… Read more »

An airbag for battery packs: PyroPhobic says its unique thermoplastics will stop thermal runaway

Engineers have been searching for ways to mitigate the risk of fire with Li-ion batteries since the technology was first commercialized. Chemists are creating new cell formulations that are less prone to problems, electronics experts are designing fail-safe battery management systems, and mechanical engineers are building complex cooling and fire suppression systems. A common rule… Read more »

LG Chem to license Optodot’s boehmite ceramic-coated battery separators

Optodot Corporation has granted a license to LG Chem for batteries, cells, separators and electrolyte members comprising boehmite, an aluminum oxide hydroxide mineral. The license permits LG Chem to use boehmite separator films for lithium-ion batteries. “Boehmite ceramic coating layers offer a number of distinct benefits in lithium-ion batteries, including improved thermal stability to enhance… Read more »

Elon Musk: Tesla is tracking 60 battery development efforts around the world

Tesla CEO Elon Musk covers a lot of ground in a recent interview with Investment icon Ron Baron. He explains how, as a young man, he identified the five tech areas that would have the greatest impact on mankind’s future, and set out to make his mark. He also gives propers to early partner AC… Read more »

Tesla tweaks its battery chemistry: a closer look at silicon anode development

In mid-July, Tesla Motors made a trio of Model S update announcements. The new options included a 70 kWh rear-wheel-drive base model, an upgrade for the high-end battery pack from 85 to 90 kWh (providing about a 6% increase in range), and Ludicrous mode, which offers a 10% improvement in the car’s 0 to 60… Read more »

Beating the polysulfide shuttle to build a solid-state battery approaching theoretical capacity

The latest advance in lithium-sulfur technology comes courtesy of a research team from Samsung and the University of Rome, who have built a solid-state Li-S battery with a capacity (∼1600 mAhg−1) approaching the theoretical value and Coulombic efficiency approaching 99%. In a paper published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the team concludes that… Read more »