
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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Preventing Thermal Runaway in Energy Storage Systems (ESS)
From air transportation to electric vehicles and most recently “Hover Boards”, our industry is painfully aware of the over-discharge malfunctions associated with high-energy lithium-ion batteries, yet according to recent studies, nearly 70% of all Energy Storage Systems currently deployed are lithium-ion. Avoiding the pitfalls of utilizing greater energy density in larger installations is what will be discussed. Michelle will walk through the recent innovations from materials and process tracking in battery manufacturing to comprehensive control of cells in a fully deployed system. Incorporating lessons learned from recent failure investigations by the NTSB and FAA as well as new DoE mandates, Michelle will discuss how to achieve and in some areas surpass the new emerging safety certifications for a multi-megawatt energy storage system.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• Making batteries safe or making safe batteries? (control & mitigation)
• Cell manufacture tracking, certification and response
– NTSB & DoE analysis and current situation
• Incorporating advanced battery management systems (BMS)
– Active cell dynamic balancing
– Cell replacement (hot-swapping)
– System reconfiguration
– Energy density scalability
Presenter
Michelle Klassen – VP of Business Development at Pathion, Inc.
Michelle Klassen is VP of Business Development for PATHION Inc. which manufactures high-performance, safe, and reliable Energy Storage Systems (ESS) for commercial markets ranging from 86 kilowatt-hours in stand-alone systems to over 1 megawatt-hour in containerized units. Prior to PATHION, as Vice President at ZeroBase Energy, she led the design and implementation of power systems and micro-grids for customers, including the US Department of Defense, Kenya Ministry of Energy and the L.A. Department of Water and Power.
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Determination of Battery Safety and Performance Parameters Using Adiabatic and Isothermal Calorimetry
FREE Webinar – Thermal Hazard Technology is a proud sponsor of this event.
This presentation describes two main types of calorimetry which can be used to carry out safety and performance testing on batteries. Isothermal calorimeters allow for direct heat measurement on cells during use, while adiabatic calorimeters can measure heat released from batteries during thermal runaway.
Calorimetry can serve as a quantitative scientific method for evaluation of battery safety but it requires appropriate instrumentation. The principles of operation of both types of calorimeters are described along with specific applications within the field of battery testing.
A combination of both technics allows for detailed thermal characterization of lithium-ion and other rechargeable cells, and differences due to chemistry, cell design, cell age, state of charge and cell size can be evaluated.
This webinar will focus on the following key topics:
• The principles of adiabatic and isothermal calorimetry
• How calorimetry can be used in battery testing
• Parameters established by adiabatic safety testing
• Parameters established by isothermal performance testing
• Pressure measurement and gas collection
Presenter
Danny Montgomery – Technical Performance Manager at Thermal Hazard Technology
Danny Montgomery has worked at Thermal Hazard Technology for 9 years. His current role is Technical Performance Manager; overseeing the lab and technical aspects of instrumentation manufactured by THT. He joined the company in 2009 after graduating from Southampton University with a master’s degree in physics.
Danny’s focus is primarily on lithium battery calorimetry; both adiabatic and isothermal. He oversees the use of calorimeters for customer sample testing as well as installing calorimeter systems and provided training for battery and automotive companies worldwide, such as Panasonic, BMW and Samsung. Danny works in Thermal Hazard Technology’s UK office in Milton Keynes.
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