The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) has debuted its new battery prototype facility, the Batteries and Energy to Advance Commercialisation and National Security (BEACONS).
Stakeholders, including government officials and industry partners, toured the BEACONS facility at an event in April.
The facility has been designed to help develop and commercialise new battery technologies and manufacturing processes, and to train workers for jobs in the energy storage industry.
It includes a 3,500 square foot dry room, which is a lab kept at below 1% relative humidity to protect moisture-sensitive materials and processes during battery manufacturing.
The facility also includes a solid electrolyte room to handle and process solid materials, multiple flexible production lines, and workspaces for training and industry collaboration.
The facility is to be a starting point to develop a domestic supply chain within the US and rely less on importing, according to Dr Tom Campbell who is a co-principal investigator for BEACONS and co-founder of LEAP Manufacturing.
The US Department of Defence provided the university with a $30 million award for the energy storage systems campus at UT Dallas, and the university said it will leverage and stimulate over $200 million in private capital.
Dr Joseph Pancrazio, vice president for research and innovation, professor of bioengineering and co-principal investigator, BEACONS, said: “The opening of the BEACONS battery prototype and commercialisation centre marks a milestone in The University of Texas at Dallas’ initiative to advance battery technologies and develop the necessary workforce to meet industry and national security demands.”
Image: Researchers work at the cell assembly room at BEACONS in UT Dallas. Credit: UT Dallas.
