Internal Short Circuit Testing Device to Improve Battery Designs

About this technology

Overview

Batteries, such as lithium-ion for example that are sold for consumer use in portable electronic devices and other applications such as electrical cars, occasionally fail in the field over time. These cells have typically passed a wide variety of safety tests, such as those required by governmental shipping regulations and other certification organizations. Nevertheless, they sometimes fail by overheating, which triggers thermal runaway in the battery. This action may engulf the entire device such as a cellular phone or tablet-type devices. To better understand these failure modes, innovators at the NASA Johnson Space Center and the DOE National Energy Renewable Laboratory have developed a battery test device, which introduces latent flaws into the test batteries to produce an internal short circuit. This device can help battery manufacturers and testers determine which battery design will best minimize the spread of a thermal runaway-induced fire in the battery or bank of batteries.