Li-ion Tamer®Improved Li-ion Battery Safety Through Off-Gas Monitoring

Presented to the ESS Safety & Reliability ForumAlbuquerque, NMMarch 7th, 2019

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Company & Technology Overview

Columbus, Ohio

Nexceris founded in

Columbus, OH

1994

2006

Developed H2

sensing platform

US Navy ASDS Li-ion Battery Fire

2008

2010

Phase I SBIR for off-gas monitoring

technology

2012

DOE ARPA-E AMPED project

2015

Phase II SBIR for off-gas monitoring

technology

2017

US Navy Rapid Innovation Fund (Phase III SBIR)

2018

Highlighted as success story at ARPA-e’s Energy

Innovation Summit

2019

Received GameChanger

technology award from Connected

Plant

2019

Signed exclusive distribution agreement with T-Factory in South

Korea

Conception Development Commercialization Production

Anatomy of a battery failure

Battery Failure Stages

• Stage 1: Abuse factor

o Thermal, electrical, or mechanical abuse

• Stage 2: Off-gas generation

o Occurs regardless of cell form-factor

• Stage 3: Smoke generation

o Catastrophic failure is imminent

• Stage 4: Fire generation

o Likelihood of propagation drastically increases

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Battery Management System

Smoke Detection

Additional Temperature Monitoring

Cell Quality

Non-propagation Design

PCM/Intumescent Materials

Fire Suppression

LFL Gas Detection

Cooling/Heat Transfer Plates

Separation Distance Specification

Exhaust andDeflagration Venting

Battery Failure (Thermal abuse)

Li-ion Tamer® detects off-gas prior to thermal

runaway

VESDA Smoke Detector provides no early warning of failure

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Battery Failure (Thermal abuse & mitigation)

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Battery Fault Detection

• Off-gas is precursor to battery failure

• Detection of off-gas can provide early warning

• Advanced safety diagnostic for battery systems

Battery Fault Mitigation

• Off-gas monitoring can enable mitigation

• Isolate from charge/load when off-gas occurs

• Enables thermal runaway prevention

Battery Failure (Electrical abuse)

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Test #1 conditions• Third-party data (DNV-GL)

• 100% SOC, constrained

• Overcharged at 50A (0.8C)

• 63 Ah Pouch Cell Type

• FTIR data gathered during failure (plus H2 and LEL monitors)

Remarks• Low-level off-gassing occurs early,

prior to thermal runaway

Thermal runawayTsurface > 1000oC

Battery Failure (Electrical abuse)

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Test #1 conditions• Third-party data (DNV-GL)

• 100% SOC, constrained

• Overcharged at 50A (0.8C)

• 63 Ah Pouch Cell Type

• FTIR data gathered during failure (plus H2 and LEL monitors)

Remarks• Low-level off-gassing occurs early,

prior to thermal runaway

• H2, HCl, and HF generated during thermal runaway

• LEL monitor does not alarm

Thermal runawayTsurface > 1000oC

Battery Failure (Electrical abuse)

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Test #1 conditions• Third-party data (DNV-GL)

• 100% SOC, constrained

• Overcharged at 50A (0.8C)

• 63 Ah Pouch Cell Type

• FTIR data gathered during failure (plus H2 and LEL monitors)

Remarks• Low-level off-gassing occurs early,

prior to thermal runaway

• H2, HCl, and HF generated during thermal runaway

• LEL monitor does not alarm

• Li-ion Tamer correlates to first FTIR off-gas signatures

Li-ion Tamer provides 6.4 minutes of early warning prior to thermal runaway

Thermal runawayTsurface > 1000oC

Battery Failure (Electrical abuse & mitigation)

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Test #2 conditions• Third-party data (DNV-GL)

• 100% SOC, constrained

• Overcharged at 50A (0.8C)

• 63 Ah Pouch Cell Type

• Charge is stopped at Li-ion Tamer indication

Battery Failure (Electrical abuse & mitigation)

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Test #2 conditions• Third-party data (DNV-GL)

• 100% SOC, constrained

• Overcharged at 50A (0.8C)

• 63 Ah Pouch Cell Type

• Charge is stopped at Li-ion Tamer indication

Remarks• Li-ion Tamer correlates to first FTIR

off-gas signatures

• Thermal runaway of cell is avoided by removing charge at Li-ion Tamer indication

Li-ion Tamer provides full mitigation of thermal runaway

Tsurface ≈ 50oC, charge is stopped

Tsurface ≈ 45oCThermal runaway is avoided

Anatomy of a battery failure

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Proactive action instead of reactive

can be taken with off-gas monitoring

Off-gas video

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Thermal runaway videos

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Thermal runaway videos

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PRODUCT CONFIGURATION V2.0Implementation Method

• Localized detection scheme for rack monitoring

• Network of reference sensors for reduction of false positives

• Single cell detection with rack monitoring

• Enables thermal runaway prevention

Rack 16

Rack 17

Rack 18

Rack 19

Rack 20

Rack 21

Rack 22

Rack 23

Rack 24

Rack 25

Rack 26

Rack 27

Rack 28

Rack 29

Rack 30

Rack 1

Rack 2

Rack 3

Rack 4

Rack 5

Rack 6

Rack 7

Rack 8

Rack 9

Rack 10

Rack 11

Rack 12

Rack 13

Rack 14

Rack 15

HV

AC

HV

AC

Monitoring sensor

Reference sensor

Reference controller

Monitoring controller

Product details

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- Li-ion Tamer controller is where sensors are aggregated

- Controller provides power distribution and contains proprietary logic for isolating off-gas events

o Input power range for controller: 5 – 28 VDC

- Controllers are versatile and can accommodate any battery system layout

- 1.8 – 2.8 W power consumption depending on number of sensors and input voltage

- Auto diagnostic capabilities allow users to know if a sensor has lost power or malfunctioned

- Serial (MODBUS) and digital output communication for most flexibility

- CE Mark (2019) & FM Approvals cert (2020)

Product details

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- Sensors have several mounting options

- Proprietary algorithms enable calibration-free monitoring

- 15+ year lifetime

- Sensor placement within rack depends on air-flow of forced air cooling convection currents

- EX Proof cert – sensor only (2019)

Product Benefits

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• Early warning of lithium-ion battery failureso Average of 10 minute early warning based on experimental results (100+ battery failures)

• Prevent thermal runaway with proper mitigating actiono If abuse factor is stopped early, failure can be altogether prevented

• Single cell failure detection without electrical or mechanical contact of cellso Easy installation and localized monitoring enables detection at the earliest sign

• Calibration-free producto Innovative machine learning algorithms create maintenance-free product

• Auto diagnostic capabilitieso System will automatically diagnose any sensors that are malfunctioning

• Extended lifetimeo Sensors have extended lifetime that exceeds lithium-ion battery systems (10 – 20 years)

• Reduction/removal of false positiveso Network of reference sensors removes possibility of false positive alarms

Case Study: ABB

Details:- 30 racks, 2 MWhr- LG Chem R800 racks- Front-to-back airflow - Gen 1 Li-ion Tamer product- Controllers tied to relays- Relays tied to E-stop at rack- Li-ion Tamer signal used to isolate

charge of rack

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Picture of Gen 1 Li-ion Tamer controller

Monitoring sensor placement above racks, mounted to walls

Case Study: T-Factory

Details:- 12 battery racks- 1.4 MWhr- Gen 2 Li-ion Tamer product

- 12 monitoring sensors- 3 reference sensors- 1 combined monitoring/reference controller

- Installed in the basement of high-rise building in Seoul- Upward air flow- Li-ion Tamer signal integrated into system BMS and

used for rack shutdown

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Rack design and monitoring sensor placementGen 2 Li-ion Tamer with MODBUS interface Monitoring sensor placement and cable management

www.li-iontamer.com

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Protect your people, property and brand

with Li-ion Tamer