AUVAC

An Aqueous Rechargeable Lithium Battery Using Coated Li Metal as Anode

New energy industry including electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage in smart grids requires energy storage systems of good safety, high reliability, high energy density and low cost. Here a coated Li metal is used as anode for an aqueous rechargeable lithium battery (ARLB) combining LiMn2O4 as cathode and 0.5 mol l21 Li2SO4 aqueous solution as electrolyte. Due to the ‘‘cross-over’’ effect of Li1 ions in the coating, this ARLB delivers an output voltage of about 4.0 V, a big breakthrough of the theoretic stable window of water, 1.229 V. Its cycling is very excellent with Coulomb efficiency of 100% except in the first cycle. Its energy density can be 446 Whkg21, about 80% higher than that for traditional lithium ion battery. Its power efficiency can be above 95%. Furthermore, its cost is low and safety is much reliable. It provides another chemistry for post lithium ion batteries.

Elemental Questions

As lithium-ion battery use increases, so do the concerns related to the fire-safety hazards of these devices. Through a series of research efforts and partnerships, NFPA is analyzing storage and safety issues surrounding the power source fueling hundreds of millions of devices — from iPhones to electric vehicles — worldwide.

Can We Build Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs?

Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That’s bad news not just for the country’s economy but for the future of innovation.

In a hangarlike building where General Electric once assembled steam turbines, a $100 million battery manufacturing facility is being constructed to make products using a chemistry never before commercialized on such a large scale. The sodium–metal halide batteries it will produce have been tested and optimized over the last few years by a team of materials scientists and engineers at GE’s sprawling research center just a few miles away. Now some of the same researchers are responsible for reproducing those results in a production facility large enough to hold three and a half football fields.

The engineers have moved from the bucolic research center, which sits on a hill overlooking the Mohawk River, down to the manufacturing site, which abuts the river at the edge of Schenectady, New York, a working-class town known in its heyday as Electric City. There, they supervise the installation and testing of robotics, high-temperature kilns, and analytic equipment that will monitor the production process. The new batteries use an advanced ceramic as an electrolyte inside a sealed metal case containing nickel chloride and sodium; the technology promises to store three times as much energy as the lead-acid batteries used in data centers, in heavy-duty electric vehicles, and for backup power. But almost anything can go wrong. If, say, the particles that make up the ceramic are uneven in size or haven’t been properly dried, battery performance could fall short. That means the conditions in the huge factory must be tightly controlled, and multi-ton devices must be able to match the exactness of lab equipment. “It’s not for the weak of heart,” says Michael Idelchik, GE’s vice president of advanced technologies.

The GE plant is one of a number of facilities around the country producing new technologies for rapidly growing markets in advanced batteries, electric vehicles, and solar power—but those efforts cannot counter the reality that the U.S. manufacturing sector is in trouble. After decades of outsourcing production in an effort to lower costs, many large companies have lost the expertise for the complex engineering and design tasks necessary to scale up and produce today’s most innovative new technologies, not to mention the appetite for the risks involved.

If you believe Thomas Friedman’s assertion that “the world is flat,” and that moving manufacturing to places where production is cheap makes companies more competitive, such a shift might not matter beyond its implications for the U.S. economy and its workers. But the United States remains the world’s most prolific source of new technologies, particularly materials-based ones, and evidence is growing that its diminished manufacturing capabilities could severely cripple global innovation. There are ample reasons to believe that the model of the U.S. computer industry—which has successfully outsourced much of its production in the last few decades and made design, not manufacturing, its priority—will not work effectively for companies trying to commercialize innovations in energy, advanced materials, and other emerging sectors.

How ultracapacitors work (and why they fall short)

Hang around the energy storage crowd long enough, and you’ll hear chatter about ultracapacitors. Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk has said he believes capacitors will even “supercede” batteries.

What is it that makes ultracapacitors such a promising technology? And if ultracapacitors are so great, why have they lost out to batteries, so far, as the energy storage device of choice for applications like electric cars and the power grid?

Put simply, ultracapacitors are some of the best devices around for delivering a quick surge of power. Because an ultracapacitor stores energy in an electric field, rather than in a chemical reaction, it can survive hundreds of thousands more charge and discharge cycles than a battery can.

A more thorough answer, however, looks at how ultracapacitors compare to capacitors and batteries. From there we’ll walk through some of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of ultracaps, how they can enhance (rather than compete with) batteries, and what the opportunities are to advance ultracapacitor technology.

UUV Power and Energy System Overview

Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Energy ONR Industry Day 08 February 2011

UUV POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEM OVERVIEW

ONR Long Endurance Undersea Vehicle Propulsion Future Naval Capability (FNC)

Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Energy ONR Industry Day 08 February 2011

ONR Long Endurance Undersea Vehicle Propulsion Future Naval Capability (FNC)

Large UUV Technologies

Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Energy ONR Industry Day 08 February 2011

Large UUV Technologies

Lithium Power – Energy Systems for the Next Generation of Vessels. Power for a Green Future

SYNOPSIS
A brief description of the benefits of lithium energy battery technology, will be followed by a brief history of its growth, and a comparison of modern battery systems. There will then be brief descriptions of working scenarios and the benefits of hybrid and electric applications, including an outline of how to mitigate costs, improve ROI, and develop an understanding of the impact on the environment.

The paper will touch on all aspects of the benefits of using lithium technology today, and how it will be impacting the future of vessel design, construction and use in today’s vessels. It will demonstrate the financial and environmental gains that are possible today.

Transport of Lithium Batteries in Accordance with the ICAO Technical Instructions

The 2009-2010 ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air incorporated a number of revisions to requirements for the transport of lithium batteries. Revisions included:

• Development of new Packing Instructions 965, 966, 967, 968, 969 and 970 to more clearly state requirements for the various types of lithium batteries.
• Incorporation of the requirements formerly in Special Provision A45 within the new packing instructions.
• Application of a new lithium battery handling label for certain lithium batteries.
• Enhanced packaging and revised quantity limits for lithium batteries as shown in
• Table 3-1 and in the new Packing Instructions.

DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF LITHIUM ION CELLS FOR UNDERWATER ENERGY STORAGE AND POWER DELIVERY

ABSTRACT
Li-Ion cell and battery technology has matured to the extent that it can be found in applications ranging from a few MilliAmpHours to more than a MegaWattHour. The technology has also advanced from its original low rate incarnation, supporting laptop computers, to designs specialized for high energy, high rate or low temperature. The present state-of-the-art designs support continuous discharge rates in excess of 100C and pulse rates exceeding 300C, leading to specific powers surpassing 10kW/kg. In applications such as the B2 Stealth Bomber, the operating temperature for the battery ranges from -40°C to 85°C. In contrast to applications such as the NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers where the batteries have allowed a planned 90 day mission to be extended to more than 1200 days and counting, despite low temperatures and high levels of ionizing radiation. Furthermore, Li-Ion cells, originally offered only in a ~1.1Ah – 18650 format (cylindrical cell that is 18mm in diameter 65 mm long), can now be found in capacities from 1mAh to 400Ah, or higher. The smaller cells are already being used in rechargeable human implantable medical devices and are being evaluated for rechargeable micro sensors. The medium sized cells (5Ah to 50Ah) are used primarily for military and aerospace applications such as: the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Phoenix Lander, the B2 Stealth Bomber, a Lightweight Electric Torpedo, satellites and numerous Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs). The largest cells (200Ah and greater) have found a niche as the main energy storage systems primarily for naval applications such as the 8-ton, 1.2 MegaWattHour Li-Ion battery for the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS), which the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has given a Technology Readiness Level 9 (TRL 9) designation, the Seal Delivery Vehicle (SDV) and various large format (30” diameter and larger) UUVs.

This customization of the cell size, shape and chemistry has been critical in the ability of Li- Ion to adapt to a wide range of applications. However, the ongoing safety issue with Li-Ion laptop computer batteries brings into question the safety of Li-Ion technology in military applications. This issue is further complicated by the widening gap between the needs of commercial and military markets leading to the replacement of premium raw materials with lower cost, inferior materials. This paper addresses the state-of-the-art of Li-Ion technology in both cell and chemistry design, including an analysis of available cathode and anode materials, while reviewing the enhancements to safety and energy density on the horizon. The paper also reviews battery safety from the chemistry cell and battery design standpoint. Finally, since Li-Ion battery technology, as a stand alone system, will not meet the energy requirements of all platforms, a review of Li-Ion technology as part of a hybrid system (e.g. Diesel/Li-Ion or Fuel Cell/Li-Ion) is discussed.