
Understand and Prevent Battery Fires and Explosions – and Avoid Costly Failures Like the Samsung Note 7
Modern batteries (eg Li-Ion) contain hazardous chemicals & they heat up during use: this combination always has the potential to cause fires & explosions. This presentation will focus on improving the understanding of how these incidents occur, what can be done to avoid them & how the risk can be minimized during early stage design.
The Samsung Note 7 phone & Boeing Dreamliner airplane fires are very costly examples of how even large corporations fail to understand the potential fire risk of batteries.
The solution lies in knowledge of heat generation rate during normal use & information about safe boundaries such as temperature, discharge rate & overcharge, in realistic situations that represent actual use conditions. Data from commercial batteries of different types will be used to illustrate these points.
A relatively new technique will also be discussed with data, which allows total heat output during discharge to be measured on-line and this can be used both for design and battery modelling. Examples of the data will be provided.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• Why battery fires & explosions occur
• How to design safer batteries though understanding of heat generation
• Video evidence of batteries under explosive conditions
• How better thermal management systems can be designed – based on heat measurement from isothermal calorimetry
• Laboratory instruments suitable for testing and data generation
Presenter
Dr. Jasbir Singh – Managing Director at Hazard Evaluation Laboratory
Jasbir is a chemical engineer specializing in thermal hazards and calorimetry, traditionally for the chemical industry but now increasingly involved in battery safety, especially Li-ion EV and related types.
A graduate of Imperial College (London), where he undertook PhD into combustion and explosions, his experience includes many years in process design for the chemical and petrochemical industries. He is currently developing test methods and instruments for use in design of battery thermal management systems.
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Advancing Mining Processes to Make Better Materials for Use in Lithium Ion Batteries
American Manganese Inc has developed a low-cost, environmentally friendly hydrometallurgical process to recover manganese (Mn) from lower grade resources. American Manganese has applied for a patent for their hydrometallurgical process that produces electrolytic manganese metal with low energy and water consumption. American Manganese commissioned R&D contractor, Kemetco Research Inc to determine uses of Artillery Peak manganese resource material to generate high value alternative products. Chemical manganese dioxide (CMD) and lithiated manganese oxide (LixMn2O4) for use in rechargeable batteries were the areas researched.
The research was successful in producing CMD from Artillery Peak resource material with low cation impurities and avoiding processing steps that are known to introduce metallic impurities in the final product. Cation impurities cause capacity fade, whereas metallic impurities are known to cause catastrophic failures (such as fire and explosions) in lithium ion batteries. Working rechargeable lithium ion coin cell battery prototypes were produced from the CMD material.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• Catastrophic failure of Li Ion batteries caused by metallic impurities that may be introduced from the mining of raw materials
• Conventional mining process to recover MnO2 used to make LiMn2O4
• Research on a new mining process that avoids steps known to introduce metallic impurities to recover MnO2 used to make LiMn2O4
Presenter
Norman Chow – President – Kemetco Research, Inc.
Norman earned a B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. in Metals and Materials Engineering from University of British Columbia. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) in British Columbia. He has over 15 years of technology development and contract research experience. He is the President of Kemetco Research Inc., which he formed after acquiring the Industrial Process Division of BC Research Inc. BC Research had been in operation for over 60 years as an R&D contractor.
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Battery Ageing – How Modeling is Used to Predict Battery Life
Battery modeling and simulation makes it possible to analyze multiple operating conditions and design parameters for batteries and other electrochemical systems and processes. By developing mathematical models you can begin to understand the interaction of electrochemical and chemical processes in the battery and how these processes affect the performance and life of the battery.
In this presentation, we will take a look at the benefits of modeling and simulation in the design, selection, and operation of a lithium-ion battery. We will especially take a look at how modeling can be used together with testing. These results provide manufacturers and application experts with the data to not only predict battery life but to analyze the implications of design parameters and operating conditions to better understand the limitation of the battery.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• Benefits of modeling and simulations in the design, selection, and operation of a lithium-ion battery
• Implications of design parameters and operating conditions with respect to experimental observations of battery performance, aging, and battery safety
• How battery modeling can be used together with testing
Presenter
Tom O’Hara – Global Business Manager, Intertek
Tom O’Hara is the global business manager / advisory services for Intertek’s energy storage programs. Aside from his consulting role, Tom supports U.S. and European marketing and sales efforts and APAC CTIA certification efforts. As a 30-year veteran of the battery technology field, Tom has worked in Energizer Battery’s R&D sector and consulted with several start-up battery companies. He is also the co-inventor of the world’s first successful mercury-free zinc air button cell and holds seven U.S. patents. He obtained both a B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
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Solid Electrolytes and Bulk Scale Solid-State Batteries
Recently, the push to move beyond Li – ion battery technology has grown. Several advanced battery technologies & chemistries have been identified as promising candidates including i) solid-state batteries with Li metal anode, ii) Li – S chemistries, iii) Li – air(oxygen), and iv) flow batteries. Although an engineered solution using liquids may be possible for some of these options, a solid electrolyte is an enabling technology for each of these beyond Li – ion alternatives. This webinar will introduce the operating principles of each of these cell technologies and solid electrolytes will be discussed in this context. The requirements of a solid electrolyte will be outlined & several state of the art solid electrolytes will be compared. Recent technical progress towards the fabrication of solid-state batteries will be reviewed. Finally, an overview of market applications for solid-state will be presented.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• Overview of beyond Li – ion battery technologies enabled by solid electrolytes
• Comparison of state of the art solid electrolytes
• Recent technical progress towards solid-state batteries
• Review of market applications for solid-state batteries
Presenter
Travis Thompson – Post Doctorate Research Fellow at University of Michigan
Travis received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and his PhD in Materials Science at Michigan State University in 2014. His graduate work has focused on synthesis & processing of materials for direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion & storage. This includes ambient drying of silica aerogels, processing of oxide based thermoelectric materials, & electrochemical characterization of ceramic solid electrolytes for advanced batteries. He is now a Research Fellow at The University of Michigan and is exploring commercialization of Solid-State Batteries from his graduate work.
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