Yet Another New Battery Technology

But it is still interesting reading about this, even though I, admittedly, start to create a prognosis in my head.

 

Samsung had been working on this with MIT since 2015

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...id-state-batteries-could-last-a-lifetime.html

It required the GN7 industrial accident so that they finally accelerate their research.

This deserves a song
inspired by famous French singer of the old time Charles Trenet

Boom,
When their batteries go "Boom!"
Samsung research goes "Boom",
and it's new tech which wakes up...

 

More links (batteries with solid state electrolite):

Samsung/MIT

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/541991/an-almost-perfect-battery/
http://technology.mit.edu/technolog...ymer-as-electrolyte-for-lithium-ion-batteries
http://news.mit.edu/2017/toward-solid-lithium-batteries-0202

Others (Berkeley lab)

https://chargedevs.com/newswire/new...d-state-batteries-combines-polymer-and-glass/
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2015/12/21/new-hybrid-electrolyte-for-solid-state-lithium-batteries/

 

In a related vein, an interesting article that I came across earlier today:

Samsung Fed Up with Phone Explosions, Seeks Battery Experts from US and Europe Softpedia, 12 Jul 2017: Samsung isn’t taking any risks with batteries on its smartphones after the Note 7 fiasco, and the company is also planning ahead, with a new report claiming the South Koreans started recruiting battery experts from all over the world. While Samsung collaborated with experts and researchers from several institutes in the Note 7 nightmare, the firm now wants to hire engineers that could help not only reduce the risks of batteries catching fire on its models, but also to contribute to the development of new technologies that would increase the capacity of batteries while reducing overheating as much as possible. Korean site The Investor reports that Samsung is primarily seeking engineers in the United States and in Europe, with several candidates already interviewed last month. The company is particularly interested in engineers with a master’s or doctorate degree in battery science, as well as people with expertise in battery materials and cell development. Samsung is playing the safe card for its future models, so not only the company has a dedicated team in charge of overseeing the battery design, inspection, and production, but it also appointed other experts to conduct a series of tests, including X-ray inspections and random sampling after receiving batteries from its suppliers. The Note 7 batteries that caught fire were manufactured by Samsung SDI and ATL, while the Galaxy S8 gave up on the latter, presumably for Samsung to have more control over the manufacturing process.

One implication here is that this might be the boost needed to get solid electrolyte Li batteries to the market. If so, that flaming Galaxy Note 7 that you had in your cargo pants might have been worth it...!!!

 

This is how things progress, unfortunately; sometimes the industry keeps older technologies on the market, even if a new one is ready somewhere in a lab (and they even restrain further research) because there is a lot of money already invested in the older tech.

And some other time an industrial accident reshuffles the decks.

so there is a form of inertia in technological progress for sure...

Some of the money that the countries swore to put on the table to fight global warming should definitely be put on research into new battery technologies...

 

I don't ordinarily favor mixing professional and private, but this article is a pretty good and pretty timely take on where we stand with energy storage technology:

Urban Air Mobility: Are Batteries There Yet?
Are battery technologies advancing fast enough to enable eVTOL?
Aug 3, 2017 Graham Warwick | Aviation Week & Space Technology

Electric Potential
Thanks to progress made by the automotive industry, battery technology has reached the point where small, short-range aircraft are feasible. Batteries available now are good enough for prototype electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicles, but more progress is needed if commercial operations are to begin in the early 2020s.

“We are right on the edge of batteries being able to do this mission. With some concepts, the batteries may already be here,” says Mark Moore, Uber’s engineering director of aviation. But improvements across a broad front are required to enable fast-paced air taxi operations.

Battery Chemistry Paths to Higher Energy Densities
250-320 Wh/kg—Tesla batteries, using Panasonic lithium-ion cells

>350 Wh/kg—Seeon: advanced lithium-polymer with solid electrolyte

>360 Wh/kg—Pellion Technologies: magnesium-ion

>420 Wh/kg—SolidEnergy: lithium-metal with anode protection

Energy density is the key parameter, as it determines how long the vehicle can stay aloft, but charging time, cycle life and safety as well as battery cost are critical criteria and interlinked in complex ways. Fast-turnaround, high-power VTOL operations require rapid charging and discharging rates that reduce battery life but also generate temperatures that must be managed safely to avoid thermal runaways.

“A battery-powered aircraft is a different animal to a fuel-burning aircraft,” says Brian German, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Unlike fuel, the amount of energy you get out depends on the rate at which you ask for it. Ask for it faster and you get less.” Batteries do not get lighter as energy is consumed, so aircraft will land vertically as heavy as when they took off.

Uber has established goals for a four-seat eVTOL entering production in 2023. These include: a battery energy density of 350 Wh/kg at the cell level and 300 Wh/kg at the pack level, the ability to recharge from 30% to 90% capacity in 15 min., a life of 500 cycles and a cost of $400/kWh. Uber has also set longer-term goals, including a 1,000-cycle life by 2028 and 2,000 by 2032 and $200/kWh by 2030.



Lithium-metal is seen as continuing the pace of battery improvement, provided past instabilities have been overcome.


Energy density is critical, as it drives vehicle size. A goal of 400 Wh/kg is often cited—“400 Wh/kg would enable a lot of aircraft on the drawing board,” says Boeing technical fellow Marty Bradley—but it is significantly beyond the state of the art. “I know of no company doing VTOL with batteries north of 250 Wh/kg,” says David Eaglesham, CEO of advanced battery developer Pellion Technologies.

Lithium-ion batteries in Tesla electric cars set the benchmark, at about 250 Wh/kg and a cost below $200/kWh, and its latest battery is above 300 Wh/kg at the cell level. Airbus’s Silicon Valley outpost A3 is using lithium-polymer batteries in its Vahana eVTOL, which will fly late this year. These have an energy density of just under 200 Wh/kg at the pack level, which includes the battery management system.

Advances in lithium-ion batteries have enabled electric vehicles, but their performance is improving at only about 5% a year. Higher energy densities are expected to require new chemistries. Lithium-sulfur and lithium-metal are among the leading candidates, and multiple companies have batteries above 300 Wh/kg at the prototype stage.

Samsung-backed Seeo is developing advanced lithium-polymer batteries with a solid, nonflammable electrolyte for safety. The company is testing 350-Wh/kg cells and targeting 400 Wh/kg. Pellion began flying magnesium-ion batteries with a cell-level 360 Wh/kg in drones in 2016 and is confident it can support eVTOL demonstrations in 2018, says Eaglesham. SolidEnergy has demonstrated lithium-metal batteries with a cell-level 426 Wh/kg and will meet Uber’s goals by the end of 2017, says CEO Qichao Hu. Rechargeable lithium-metal batteries have a history of instability, but “the last five years have seen great results,” says Venkat Srinivasan, director of Argonne National Laboratory’s energy storage science center. “Lithium-metal is the next big frontier; we will see if it pans out.”

“Most eVTOL manufacturers are looking at lithium-metal batteries and are confident they can meet the energy density target within Uber’s time frame,” says Michael Armstrong, vision systems lead at Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks.



A3’s single-seat, tilt-wing Vahana eVTOL has two 200 Wh/kg lithium-polymer battery packs that will be swapped out after each flight. Credit: Airbus A3


Most advanced batteries face challenges with charging rates and cycle lives, two keys to Uber’s high-utilization model. Moore says extensive economic analyses indicate the service is feasible even if batteries must be replaced every 500 cycles, equivalent to 3-4 months of operation. But life and cost can be traded—“500 cycles at $300/kWh versus twice the life at twice the cost is the same thing,” he says.

Fast charging is critical, and Uber is working with ChargePoint to develop a version of its 400-kW electric-vehicle charging station for the vertiports. This will connect autonomously to the eVTOL and circulate cooling liquid at a high flow rate through the battery to keep temperatures at safe levels as it is topped up by at least 25% during the 5-min. turnarounds. High discharge rates are required during VTOL operations, and precooled batteries also put out higher power.

(Courtesy of Aviation Week site)

 

@Steve S: The article is certainly very informative, but it requires paid subscription to AviationWeek in order to access...

(So could you sum-up the other interesting points?)

 

<<...it requires paid subscription to AviationWeek in order to access...>>

...Totally overlooked that! I've fixed my post (#46)...

 

By the way, there is another battery technology that can reach 400 Wh/kg: the good old flywheel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage
https://ziang.binghamton.edu/node/26

Used in subways, since 1940:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121122-spiraling-wheels-boost-subways

And by NASA in their "NASA flywheel program":
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/portal/pdf/flywheel.pdf

Of course you will not put one flywheel in your tablet

 

Elon Musk teases research on a big battery breakthrough
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...arch-on-a-big-battery-breakthrough/ar-AAprlRQ