I-Corps: Direct Characterization of Electrothermal Properties of Roll-to-Roll-Manufactured Materials

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使用于能源材料制造诊断的多属性测量仪器能够商业化。智能手机、电动汽车和余热回收市场将是该项目的主要机会。大量的商业和工业过程依赖于精确的温度和电气测量来诊断制造过程中的问题并验证性能。如何测量温度和电性能，以及要求多高的精度是每个应用和产品都需要回答的两个非常重要的问题。该仪器的初步商业化审查是因为制造业需要在循环使用在直流极快充电下运行的锂离子电池等储能设备的同时准确测量温度。这个i-Corps项目为精确测量多种传输特性提供了一个可行的解决方案，无需材料/设备交换，并且是第一个能够连续测量本征电导率、热导率、离子导电率和空间温度分布的系统。目前仪器设备最缺乏的能力是精确测量热物性的能力，这一点在这里得到解决。该设备的独特设计是一个带有反馈控制区的主动加热热防护装置，它允许消除寄生热损失通道，从而防止竞争技术准确确定材料的热传导。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to enable the commercialization of a multi-property measurement apparatus for use in energy materials manufacturing diagnostics. The smart phone, and electric vehicle, and waste heat recovery markets will be the major opportunities for this project. A vast number of commercial and industrial processes rely on accurate temperature and electrical measurements for diagnosing problems during the manufacturing process and certifying performance. How temperature and electrical performance are measured and what degree of accuracy is required are two very important questions that need to be answered for every application and product. Initial commercialization review of the instrument is supported by the needs for the manufacturing sector to accurately measure temperature while cycling energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries operating under direct current extreme fast charging.This I-Corps project presents a feasible solution to the difficulty of accurately measuring multiple transport properties without material/device exchange, and is the first system capable consecutive measurement of intrinsic electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, ionic conductivity, and spatial temperature distribution. The most critically lacking capability in current instrumentation is the ability to accurately measure thermal properties, which is addressed here. The unique enabling design in this apparatus is an actively heated thermal guard with feedback controlled zones, which allows for the elimination of parasitic heat loss channels that prevent competing technologies from accurately determining the thermal conduction through a material.