Lithium-ion battery failure is something that many tech buffs are probably fearful of since it has the potential to damage the concerned gadget. The folks over at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have created a sensor of sorts. This system should be able to warn users about impending failure in the lithium-ion batteries embedded in devices.
Since the said batteries possess high energy density, they are used to power up most consumer electronics in today’s times. Additionally, their demand in power grid, military and aerospace applications is also showing an upward trend. This is the very reason why being cautious becomes all the more important. The discovery of the relation between lithium-ion cells, internal temperature and its electrical parameter has formed the basis for the creation of the sensor in question.
“An abnormally high internal cell temperature is a nearly universal manifestation of something going awry with the cell,” comments Rengaswamy Srinivasan, a chemist in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department and one of the inventors. “These changes can occur within seconds, leading to a potentially catastrophic event if corrective measures are not taken immediately. When things start to go wrong inside the cell, time is not on your side.”
Lithium-ion batteries are also the most common type to be found in hybrid and electric vehicles. This further raises major concerns about safety, which has probably become a challenge for the industry. Fires in electric vehicles and battery failures in laptops and other mobile devices have been reported in the news. These are the results of a thermal runaway within the battery which basically means critical heating up. So this particular sensor comes to the aid and even warns users regarding such circumstances. Here is where the sensor comes into the picture. It is said to be operated by employing a simple electrical connection and can use power from the battery it’s monitoring.
This sensor which warns about the lithium-ion battery failure is still underway and may become a reality sometime in the future.
