Don’t expect a technical revolution any time soon to prevent lithium-ion batteries fires— that was the unspoken take home message from Knowledge Foundation’s conference last week.
The small but highly influential battery safety meeting in Bethesda Washington heard when it comes to travel, lithium-ion is definitely taking the slow route to the west.
One leading pack-maker told BBB said that since lithium battery shipping had been banned from passenger planes, delivery lead times had gone from less than a month to as long as nine months as lithium ‘enjoyed’ the ocean wave.
The strongest prospect for fire prevention is likely to come from solid-state electrolytes.
A paper delivered by Eric Wachsman of the Maryland Energy Research Centre described developments that eliminated the major component of battery fires— flammable organic liquid electrolytes.
But introduction could take years as assessment with existing electrode material needs to take place.
Meanwhile a most unusual method of assessing battery state of health have come from an unusual fraternity — jailbirds.
Apparently inmates check primary batteries by seeing how they bounce—faded cells bounce higher.
Dr Daniel Steigert from Princeton University decided to investigate and that’s resulted in a new method of battery examination— using sound.
There will be lots more to read in the winter issue of BEST Magazine… etc
