Driving into the future: Four decades of battery research

IDAHO FALLS — Known arsenic nan nation’s atomic laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory is not arsenic wide recognized for its activity successful artillery research. Yet, INL experts person conducted power retention systems investigation for 4 decades of nan lab’s 75-year history, almost arsenic agelong arsenic nan federation has invested successful electrical conveyance technologies.

In 1976, Congress passed nan Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act to “encourage and support accelerated investigation into, and improvement of, electrical and hybrid conveyance technologies.” Seven years later, nan Energy Storage Testing Laboratory was established astatine INL for testing full-size electrical conveyance batteries.

Batteries astatine nan beginning

Tim Murphy, a retired artillery investigation section head astatine INL, joined nan squad astatine its opening from nan Navy wherever he had served arsenic a investigation chemist. He was hired to beforehand electrical conveyance artillery testing astatine INL.

Most group would ne'er conjecture really overmuch atomic power and conveyance artillery investigation person successful common, Murphy said.

“A batch of group subordinate INL only pinch atomic power research,” he said. “What galore group don’t recognize is that, because atomic engineering requires specified beardown discipline, they person immoderate of nan champion procedures successful spot for consequence and information value analysis.”

At nan time, artillery chemistry investigation was a very competitory field, truthful Murphy figured that venturing into nan lesser-known world of artillery testing was a much promising option. He leveraged INL’s expertise successful precocious value information study arsenic a steppingstone for a successful artillery testing programme that useful to make proscription safe, unafraid and sustainable.

The strategy worked: The squad astir doubled its backing complete nan adjacent respective years.

As nan programme grew, INL artillery researchers started winning jurisdiction complete artillery testing procedures and analysis. Today, astir recognized artillery testing procedures originated from INL. “We figured retired what we did amended than anybody else, and we leapfrogged nan competition, which yet allowed america to build a state-of-the-art lab,” said Murphy.

The Battery Lab wrong INL’s Energy Systems Laboratory was built successful 2012 and tripled nan footprint of INL’s artillery testing capabilities to 15,000 quadrate feet.

Randy Bewley, nan Battery Lab’s abstraction coordinator, said nan installation has changed importantly during his 14 years supporting artillery testing investigation astatine INL. “When I started successful nan Battery Lab, we had astir 105-125 channels of artillery testing,” he said. “Now we person 1,020 channels.”

A trial transmission tests nan artillery complaint and discharge complete various real-world scenarios to measure artillery degradation.

Charging into nan adjacent decade

The artillery testing programme astatine INL continues to flourish, winning respective prestigious R&D 100 awards. In 2016, INL constructed nan Nondestructive Battery Evaluation Laboratory, which expanded artillery testing astatine nan laboratory to 20,000 quadrate feet complete 4 facilities.

Today, INL is nan U.S. Department of Energy’s superior halfway for artillery exertion testing. The lab’s ample accommodation tin trial respective 100 batteries astatine nan aforesaid time, ranging from mini cells to full-sized artillery packs utilized successful today’s light-duty vehicles. The testers tin beryllium programmed to execute immoderate trial floor plan while simultaneously monitoring constraints, specified arsenic voltage and somesthesia limits.

Batteries are typically tested wrong thermal chambers, including 2 walk-in chambers for full-sized conveyance artillery testing, to guarantee accordant and repeatable somesthesia conditions. The thermal chambers are tin of a wide scope of temperatures, from -65 to 190 degrees Celsius.

As nan world races to clasp electrical conveyance technology, INL is connected nan forefront of knowing really batteries run and really to make conveyance charging a much viable proposition. Researchers successful INL’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Laboratory are portion of nan ChargeX Consortium, a collaboration betwixt nationalist labs and electrical conveyance proviso instrumentality manufacturers, that seeks to measurement and importantly amended nationalist charging reliability and usability by June 2025. Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Laboratory researchers besides analyse and activity to mitigate nan cybersecurity concerns surrounding conveyance charging.

Additionally, nan artillery testing footprint will soon grow into a caller artillery lab, which will supply an other 1000 quadrate feet. The description into nan caller laboratory will attraction connected evaluating R&D batteries to accelerate take of caller batteries The activity successful this laboratory will besides beforehand nan take of batteries made utilizing home proviso chains.

Eric Dufek, Energy Storage and Electric Transportation head astatine INL, credits nan artillery testing program’s occurrence to nan diverseness of individuals involved. This substance of expertise allows nan squad to execute galore functions, from artillery trial strategy attraction to devising caller aliases improved versions of batteries.

“We started this investigation successful 1984, and we haven’t stopped since,” Dufek said. “Interest successful batteries has ever been high. We started pinch conscionable a fewer sponsors, and our portfolio has really expanded successful nan past 4 decades. We’re excited to beryllium portion of making wide electrical conveyance take a viable anticipation for nan future.”