Patent — available for licensing
ThermoArc Facilitates Low-Cost Li-Ion Battery Testing
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a battery testing technology called ThermoArc that uses a plasma arc to drive a Li-ion battery cell into thermal runaway (TR) by inducing a localized short circuit. The short circuit is created when the plasma arc breaches the cell and melts a small section of the internal separator causing the anode and cathode to come into contact. This "short" yields rapid heat generation that, if not contained, can potentially cause a fire or explosion. This situation becomes especially dangerous if a single cell’s TR event propagates to other cells within a battery pack, such as those used commercially in aerospace and electric vehicles. Therefore, various testing methodologies have been adopted by battery manufacturers to study TR and the results, and thereby improve TR containment. ThermoArc presents a method that uses a plasma arc to deliver thermal energy to heat up only a small area of a Li-ion battery cell to trigger a TR event. This method ensures that the total heat applied is minimal and does not affect the cell’s thermal properties nor does it make significant electrical or mechanical alterations to the cell. Additionally, ThermoArc technology can be implemented to initiate hundreds of repeatable Li-ion battery cell TR tests significantly cheaper than other TR testing method-ologies given that the only consumables are inexpensive electrodes.