Greater investments in larger arrays of batteries are ER making assessing battery health more critical. Here we think of large groups in shipping vessels and on solar farms. To date the only way to do this accurately involves physical examination. But now researchers have developed a new way of assessing battery health online using a formula.
Designing Safer Cells by Assessing Battery Health Online
The researchers are from University of Michigan, ER implying they have a broader worldview involving both battery operation and design. They have found a way to monitor a battery’s internal health by assessing the way alternating currents move through it.
The University of Michigan press release (see link below) continues by explaining how the industry needs a better way to monitor, and diagnose batteries. A team lead by their professor of mechanical engineering, ER Wei Lu decided the answer lay in assessing battery health online, but how?
They decided to investigate doing so by developing a new formula for measuring impedance. This is an electrical property that compares output voltage to input current. Until now, perhaps surprisingly, this had escaped the their attention. Her her
Impedance Has a Useful Relationship with Battery Health
Impedance measurement does not appear to have been used in the past to assess the internal state of battery health. This despite the fact it relates to battery fundamentals. Wei Lu and his team also believe it could prove useful when assessing other electronic and optic photonic devices.
Batteries are a complicated system comprising many materials, he explains. This includes two electrodes, electrolyte, and a membrane. The impedance in this system varies depending on the amount of weak alternating current passing through it.
His team developed an impedance frequency signature curve for a healthy battery. Their new method for assessing battery health online involves comparing subject batteries to this norm, to obtain an empirical health report.
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