Reduced Temperature Sensitivity Solid-State Batteries

Battery module design with improved heat dissipation and cell balancing for high performance and longer life. The module has a case with an enclosed middle separator layer sandwiched between the electrochemical cell layers. Air ducts in the separator have secondary air intakes on the sides to supplement main air flow. This increases cooling capacity for center cells. The case has ventilation and exhaust holes to provide external air. The design also has insulation covers between the separator and side boards to prevent cell-to-cell electrical shorts. This allows external air to enter secondary ducts from the sides. By optimizing air flow and preventing shorts, it reduces cell temperature differences and improves overall module performance and longevity.

Solid-state thermal battery with actuated heat engines to improve efficiency and reduce thermal shock compared to conventional molten salt batteries. The battery has an insulated container with a stationary thermal storage medium. Actuated heat engines can move in and out of the container to selectively extract heat from the medium. This allows discharging without large thermal gradients that could damage the medium. The engine positions are varied over time to balance heat extraction. This reduces thermal stresses and enables higher power and capacity compared to fixed engine locations.

Battery design to improve low-temperature performance without adding thermal insulation. The battery has multiple cells where some cells have higher internal resistance and slower heat transfer compared to others. The cells with higher resistance can operate separately at low temperatures to warm up the environment before connecting in series with the other cells. This allows gradual capacity release without severe polarization or lithium plating in the cells with slower heat transfer. The cells with faster heat transfer can have lower resistance.

Self-heating control method for rechargeable batteries that allows even heating to avoid lithium precipitation and improve cycle life and safety. The method involves detecting potential differences between a reference electrode and surface electrode inside the battery core during self-heating. If the potentials are too low, it generates a charging current adjustment instruction to reduce or stop charging. If the potentials are too high, it generates a heating current adjustment instruction to reduce or stop heating. By dynamically adjusting the current based on local potentials, it prevents lithium precipitation hotspots.

Battery pack design with integrated heating to prevent performance degradation at low temperatures. The battery pack has a housing with a heater substrate inside. The heater substrate has metal patterns that generate heat when powered. Heat conduction sheets are inserted between the battery cells and metal patterns. This allows each cell to be heated directly by the substrate through the sheets. The substrate patterns oppose the cells. The heat conduction sheets prevent temperature gradients and ensure even warming. The metal patterns can be copper which has higher resistance at low temperatures to increase heating.

Battery pack design with improved low temperature performance for applications like electric vehicles that operate in cold environments. The pack has multiple cells arranged in a temperature gradient inside the pack. The cells are designed with a secondary active material that provides a lower voltage plateau. The cell with the lowest temperature has the highest proportion of the lower voltage plateau capacity. This allows cells in colder regions to discharge further before reaching cutoff voltage compared to cells in warmer regions. This compensates for the lower capacity at low temperatures. The pack's internal temperature distribution is simulated to determine the cell arrangement.

Battery cell design that improves temperature sensing accuracy for more reliable battery performance in electric vehicles. The cell has a separate thermally conductive part inside the housing that connects to the temperature sensor. This allows more accurate measurement of the cell interior temperature compared to a sensor outside the cell where the housing insulation can impact thermal conduction. The thermally conductive part can be in direct contact with the sensor and/or cell interior to improve temperature transfer. This separate conductive path avoids using the electrode which has currents that can influence temperature measurement.

Battery system for aviation applications that improves safety and reliability of high-energy density cells like lithium-ion while reducing weight compared to traditional battery packs. The system uses optical communication links between cells, stack interfaces with heat dissipating FETs and selective cooling control, and in-cell sensors monitored by a battery management system. This enables detecting cell failures and mitigating propagation risks using targeted cooling variations. The stack interfaces also allow selective disconnection of faulty stacks.

A partition member for battery modules that allows controlling heat transfer between cells to prevent positive feedback failure propagation. The partition has two surfaces in the thickness direction. When the average temperature of one surface exceeds 180°C, the thermal resistance per unit area is high (θ1). When both surface temps are below 80°C, the resistance is lower (θ2). This allows reducing heat transfer from a failed cell to adjacent cells when a cell overheats (high θ1), while maintaining normal heat flow at low temps (θ2). The partition thickness is 1/50 to 1/10 of cell thickness.

Solid-state polymer electrolyte membrane for lithium-ion batteries that allows operation over a wider voltage range compared to conventional liquid electrolytes. The membrane is made by mixing a lithium salt, plasticizer, and co-network of crosslinkable polyether and amine additions. Deep discharging the battery lithiates the membrane, providing excess lithium ions for higher capacity. This allows operation down to -0.5 V versus 2.5 V for liquid electrolytes. The solid-state membrane enables batteries with a voltage range of 0.01-4.3 V versus 2.5-4.3 V for liquid electrolytes.

Process for preparing argyrodite-type solid-state electrolytes for lithium batteries that involves contacting lithium and phosphorus sources with a solvent-reagent at lower temperatures, like 80-120°C, instead of high temperatures like 400-600°C. This allows forming Li7-xPS6-xYx compounds directly in solution, which can then be collected and further processed into solid-state electrolytes. The solvent contains a lithium salt like LiCl and a polymer like PVP. The lower temperature synthesis enables scalable production of argyrodite electrolytes using earth-abundant elements like phosphorus and chlorine.

A positive electrode, electrode, and secondary battery design to improve cycle life, discharge rate, and low temperature performance of solid-state batteries. The electrode contains positive electrode active material particles, polymer fibers with 1-100 nm diameter, and inorganic solid particles. The polymer fibers help prevent expansion/contraction of the active material during charge/discharge cycles, reducing resistance and cycle degradation. The inorganic solid particles further enhance cycle life and performance by reducing electrode-electrolyte interface resistance. The composite electrolyte layer between the electrodes contains nanofiber dispersed in an aqueous electrolyte solution.

Process for making high-performance solid-state lithium-ion batteries with improved energy density, cycle life, and safety compared to liquid electrolyte batteries. The process involves mixing ceramic electrolyte powder with flux materials and heating at lower temperatures to form a dense, lithium-conducting electrolyte. This enables depositing thin-film electrolytes with high ionic conductivity suitable for all-solid-state batteries. The lower processing temperatures avoid issues like phase transformation and sintering. The fluxed powder is shaped and heated again at lower temperatures to densify the electrolyte. The lower temperatures and fluxing step allow forming dense electrolytes without sintering issues when directly depositing ceramic powders at high temperatures.

A secondary battery with improved cycling life and low temperature performance by using a nonaqueous electrolyte containing chlorine ions and a separator with lithium ion conductivity. The battery has a positive electrode with a halide like CuCl2, FeCl3, or CoCl2 as the active material. The negative electrode can have lithium metal, lithium alloys, or compounds that insert/extract lithium. The nonaqueous electrolyte contains an ionic liquid with chlorine anions. The separator allows lithium ion transfer. This combination provides better cycling and low temp performance compared to conventional batteries with aqueous electrolytes.

Battery design with improved energy density and thermal management. The battery has a unique thermal management component connecting to the largest wall of each cell. It consists of opposing heat plates with a flow passage between. The plate thickness and flow passage size ratio must be 0.01-0.25. This configuration maximizes internal space utilization for higher energy density, while ensuring thermal management through fluid flow between the plates.

An all-solid-state battery system that maintains uniform pressure inside the battery during charging and discharging to prevent cell expansion and contraction issues. The system uses a closed chamber filled with pressurizing fluid to apply isostatic pressure to all cells. A state detector monitors battery conditions. A controller adjusts temperature and fluid flow rates to keep pressure within a range based on cell state. This prevents volume changes from affecting cell pressurization.

Energy storage assembly for electric vehicles with improved thermal management and cell-to-cell isolation to prevent thermal runaway propagation. The assembly has a housing with battery cells arranged in stacks inside. A barrier separates the stacks to reduce heat transfer between them. A coolant plate along the cells has a channel to circulate cooling fluid. A slot in the plate aligns with the barrier to further isolate the stacks. This prevents thermal runaway in one stack from spreading to the other stack by reducing conductive and convective heat transfer.

All solid-state battery module with temperature and charge state dependent pressure control to stabilize performance. The battery module has cells sandwiched between pressure plates. A controller adjusts the pressure force based on the battery temperature and state of charge. This allows optimizing internal resistance for charge and discharge efficiency across temperature and charge levels.

Secondary battery with improved lifetime performance, especially under high temperature and high state-of-charge conditions, by suppressing gas generation and resistance increase. The battery has a sulfur-containing compound in the electrolyte and a sulfur layer on the positive electrode. The compound ratio E/A between the compound in the electrolyte and the sulfur layer on the electrode satisfies a specific range to balance reaction between the compound and electrode vs other electrolyte components.

Bipolar battery design using solid-state ionically conductive polymer electrolytes to enable high voltage operation without the need for internal sealing mechanisms. The bipolar battery has alternating electrode layers with solid polymer electrolyte layers sandwiched between them. This allows multiple cells in series without the need for separator layers or internal seals. The solid electrolyte material has mobile ions in the glassy state at room temperature. It is synthesized by mixing a polymer, dopant, and ionic compound.