Charred chunks in the blast box: reducing risk of battery fires, explosions at ISU
You can’t tell it was a lithium-ion battery.
A lab photo shows a messy pile of charred and burned fragments and powders that were ejected from the battery can. This is what happens when a battery is pushed beyond its limits, to what engineers and scientists call “thermal runaway,” resulting in fire or explosion.
In Todd Kingston’s “Energy Storage, Transport, and Conversion Laboratory” in the Black Engineering Building on the Iowa State University campus, those explosions are safe and full of data that could help researchers develop safer batteries.
Making it all possible is an accelerating rate calorimeter system that’s been running tests in Kingston’s lab for a few months. Kingston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, purchased the instrument last year with a $368,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research. The grant is part of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program.
It’s the only instrument of its kind in the state. And one of only a few at Midwest universities.
“Abuse testing on lithium-ion batteries is vital for safety and innovation,” says a description of the instrument by its manufacturer, Thermal Hazard Technology. “It uncovers design weaknesses, reducing the risk of fires and explosions, driving safer battery technology.”
