Celebrate Safety this National Battery Day!

Two hundred and sixty eight years ago today, Italian physicist, Alessandro Volta, was born in a small town in Como, Italy.  At the age of 55, Volta invented the first battery, and as a result, today the world celebrates National Battery Day!  Batteries have come a long way since the turn of the 19^th century, so on this National Battery Day, lets celebrate the evolution of battery safety, dating all the way back to Mr. Volta himself.

Volta’s namesake invention, the voltaic pile, was comprised of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other.  The discs were separated by a layer of brine-soaked cloth, which served as the electrolyte.  The battery lasted an hour at best and came with several challenges, such as short circuits caused by electrolyte leakage.  Yes, even back in 1800 electrical engineers were challenged by battery performance and safety!  To solve this performance challenge, the voltaic pile was turned sideways and placed in a box, becoming known as the trough battery.

Fast forward 60 years when French physicist, Gaston Plante revolutionized battery power by inventing a lead-acid battery that passed reverse current through the system, making it the world’s first rechargeable battery.  Yet, the lead-acid battery also suffered from electrolyte leaks, posing safety risks to end-users. It wasn’t until the 1970’s when sealed lead-acid batteries were developed, using a gel electrolyte instead of liquid to prevent leakage.

In 1899, battery chemistry advanced again when nickel-cadmium batteries were introduced, becoming popular in portable power tools, flashlights, etc.  However, safety and environmental risks associated with disposing cadmium caused researchers to develop nickel-hydrogen and nickel metal-hydride batteries.

In the early 1900’s experimentation began on lithium batteries due to lithium’s impressive electrochemical potential and energy-to-weight ratio.  Early models were based on metallic lithium, which offered high energy density but inherent instability issues.  By the late 1980’s a more stable version of the lithium battery, the lithium-ion battery, was developed and first commercialized by Sony in 1991.

Recent high-profile lithium battery safety incidents have underscored the need for our industry to better understand failure modes, develop better characterization tools, and learn from the improvement of energy storage technology safety.  Most importantly, the commercial market must add safety layers into the balancing, failure forecasting, and detection of catastrophic event precursors in order to maximize the operational safety of cells, module and packs.

At Palladium Energy, we’re proud to be the only custom battery pack manufacturer with an independent, CTIA Authorized testing facility. Located in Shanghai, IQ Laboratories is our mark on battery history – leading the way to safer battery packs with lithium technologies.  We’ve proven that performance testing, environmental testing and R&D can mitigate risks, such as thermal runaway.  In nearly 40 years, we’ve shipped more than half a billion battery packs without a major customer recall or safety issues.

We’re enormously proud of our record and our industry – innovating power solutions to meet next-generation needs!  Happy National Battery Day!

– Rebecca Kritzman, director of marketing and communications

A Look at Lithium’s Supply and Demand

At Palladium Energy, we eat, drink and breathe lithium.  Okay, not really.  But we are passionate about this soft, silver-white metal on the periodic table, because we believe in its green properties, cycle life and performance as it relates to battery pack technology.

Due to its core properties, lithium is desirable for use in battery cells and battery packs.  For example, lithium is the lightest metal on the periodic table and has the highest specific heat capacity of any solid element. In addition, it is the metal with lowest density and greatest electrochemical potential.  On the flip side, lithium is also one of the most volatile metals, so battery pack safety and testing are critical (click here to learn about Palladium’s stringent testing).

While the first battery was invented in 1800, scientists didn’t begin experimenting with lithium anode material until 1912.  The world finally saw the first non-rechargeable lithium battery in the 1970’s.  Soon after, physicist John Goodenough identified and developed Li_xCoO₂ as the cathode material of choice for the lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable battery, and in 1991, Sony Corporation commercialized this technology.

Today, more than 70 percent of the world’s salt lake lithium deposits are in South America, with Chile being the major producer.  However, investors are eyeing untapped or undeveloped lithium sources in Argentina, Australia and even Afghanistan as the world strives to meet growing demand for lithium batteries.

According to Ona Egbue, a doctoral student at Missouri University of Science and Technology, “Batteries make up 23 percent of lithium use and are the fastest growing end use of lithium.”  Furthermore, according to Frost & Sullivan, Li-ion batteries are expected to dominate the rechargeable battery market by 2016, beating out lead-acid and nickel technologies.

The primary application of lithium batteries is handheld devices, such as consumer electronics and medical devices.  Today, the average cell phone contains one-tenth of an ounce of lithium while the average laptop computer boasts about one ounce of lithium. The production of these small-format lithium battery packs rose 27 percent last year to 3.9 billion units, and is expected to climb to 4.5 billion units this year.

But small-format battery packs aren’t the only electronic components placing a demand on lithium supplies.  In fact, Frost & Sullivan predicts that by 2016, large-format Li-ion batteries used in automotive and energy storage, will dominate the market.

Chrysler EV battery pack by A123

For example, the batteries used in energy storage systems require approximately three to eight pounds of lithium to store renewable energy (depending on size and capacity requirements).  The market for these Li-ion energy storage batteries is growing so rapidly, that it’s expect to surpass $400 million by 2018, placing a demand on lithium production

As the mandate for lithium grows, our company is at the forefront of lithium technology, design engineering and testing.  From Li-ion to lithium polymer to lithium iron phosphate, Palladium Energy delights our customers by always keeping them a solution ahead.  Click here for a quote today!

– Rebecca Kritzman, director of global marketing

Live from Battery Power 2012

This week, our team took to the Battery Power 2012 tradeshow floor in Denver, Colo. to bring you the latest in small, medium and large-format batteries!  Check out the video below and connect with our experts on LinkedIn.

Helping You Stay A Solution Ahead: West Coast Technology Seminar

At Palladium Energy, we’ve been making our way around the United States to deliver thought leadership around battery pack innovation. These events entitled, “Collaboration and Innovation in Building a Battery Powered System,” started in the Northeast in May 2012, and we just completed a West Coast version in San Jose last week. These seminars feature our key supply partners from a cell, chip/fuel gauge and charger perspective.

Our West Coast seminar, attended by the largest data storage, energy storage and smart grid original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) was a big success. We hosted the event in an awesome venue, Club Auto Sport, which houses super-cool automobiles—from an old-school Cadillac El Dorado convertible to the latest Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche and even a battery-powered Tesla! Attendees were not only surrounded by these cool cars, but they enjoyed lunch and a cocktail reception.  Most importantly, attendees learned about the following from battery pack experts:

1. 

   Dr. Like Xie, vp of technology, Palladium Energy

   Palladium Energy:  Reviewed the latest technology trends for lithium-based cells, as well as design engineering tips and tricks to get the best performance out of your pack.  Discussed agency approvals and certifications through our company’s IQ Laboratories—including an update on Class 9 air freight regulations forthcoming 1/1/13.

2. Sony: Reviewed the company’s latest cell technology roadmaps including LFP, power cylindrical cells and polymer cells with hybrid gel technology for high safety, longer cycle life, higher energy density, bigger footprint and quicker charge.
3. Texas Instruments: Reviewed fuel gauge, cell balancing and new wireless power solutions for battery packs.
4. Energy Access: Ended the seminar with an entertaining presentation about battery pack charging basics—with several scenarios and “how to’s” when charging one of the most volatile metals on the Periodic Table—lithium-ion— as well as design do’s and don’ts.

Representatives from Sony, Texas Instruments and Energy Access

We are planning more Technical Seminars in 2013—including one in the Southeast.  Stay tuned for more details as we look to keep you a solution ahead by delivering the latest and greatest technical information to power your device/application.

–Rebecca Kritzman, director of global marketing

More than a cell: What is a battery?

For end consumers, a battery is an energy storage unit that provides stored power to an electronic device. Of course, a battery is a finite energy source that will require recharging when depleted. After a period of time or due to frequent use, the battery’s ability to store energy will degrade.  When the battery is no longer capable of storing ample energy for the device, it is often times replaced. Subsequently, the battery is considered a support structure of the host device and not of primary importance to the overall functionality of the device.

For a battery pack engineer (like me), a battery is a construction that incorporates multiple tiers of protection circuitry to monitor and maintain a miniature electro-chemical reactor. This miniature electro-chemical reactor is the central focus of the construction, otherwise referred to as the Cell(s). The protection circuitry monitors the operational state of the Cells and will internally disconnect the Cells from the battery terminals when any safety condition occurs. A Cell is manufactured using a particular chemical formula and process. Each Cell will have safety thresholds unique to its manufacture.

Typically, the safety circuits monitor for extremes in temperature, cell voltage and electrical current flowing in/out of the Cell(s). If the Cell is allowed to experience operational conditions that exceed the operational parameters, irreversible damage to the Cell(s) will occur and potential gaseous venting, incendiary ignition, or even explosion become real possibilities.

Fortunately, whenever a safety condition is detected by the protection circuitry, the power path from the Cell(s) to the battery’s +/- terminals is intentionally interrupted to prevent the condition from escalating to dangerous levels. Most safety conditions are triggered by the transference of electrical power either a) into the Cell(s) during charge or b) out of the Cell(s) during discharge. To allow for eventual recovery from each particular safety condition, the protection circuitry will selectively prevent either charging or discharging. Certain safety conditions (such as overheating of the Cell(s) due to environmental heating, or frozen Cell(s) due to environmental cooling) will cause both charging and discharging to become disabled until the safety condition is reduced to operational thresholds. Certain safety conditions pose particular concerning hazards, so redundant circuitry is included to protect the Cell(s) in the event of failures in the primary protection circuitry (for example, discharge over-current from the Cell(s) due to short circuit will require a second level of protection such as a PTC). Here’s a block diagram of the safety circuitry found in a simple single-cell battery:

Battery technology has enabled portability and power redundancy for a wide range of electrical products. A battery is designed for a particular application and must be thoughtfully evaluated before being re-purposed for an alternative application. Such an evaluation must take into account the design safety thresholds designed into the battery, the cell chemistry used in the Cell(s), and the environmental limitations of the various components within the battery. When utilized within operational parameters, batteries are very safe and allow for otherwise impossible technological concepts.

Click here to learn more about Palladium Energy’s design engineering expertise or request a quote today!

– Lucas Sturnfield, electrical engineer