Diagnostics for Thermal Runaway Detection

Developing an industry standard for determining the battery state-of-stability after a potentially abusive condition (e.g., a car crash) remains a key challenge for transportation energy storage systems due to the complexity of the problem. Monitoring a battery pack using traditional techniques can be misleading. A pack may appear healthy, even though it contains a single problematic cell. That problematic cell has the potential to cause cascading failure, leading to thermal runaway in other cells within the pack. Abusive conditions can also be created unintentionally, such as voltage imbalance resulting in overcharge and overdischarge. Even a poor thermal design can create thermally abusive conditions. These problems present a clear need to detect and mitigate catastrophic cell failure under normal use and abuse conditions for transportation energy storage systems.<br/> <br/>This research aims to enhance the safety, reliability, and stability of energy storage systems by integrating novel sensors and measurement tools into a battery management system for advanced diagnostics and reporting. This presentation details a collaborative project between Sandia and Idaho National Laboratories to develop a diagnostic demonstration platform. The scope of the project includes characterizing battery performance during normal and off-normal operations using novel sensor technology and embedding these sensors into battery management systems. The capability of these sensors to identify markers of imminent failure in cells and battery packs is a critical component of the project and, it will be the main topic of discussion during this presentation.