STTR Phase I: Novel State of Health Measurements Through Advanced Lithium-ion Battery Modeling for Secure and Scalable 2nd-Life Battery Deployment

这项小型企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是加速采用电气化和其他下一代技术，如可再生能源。本项目提出了一种通过再利用来有效管理报废锂离子电池的技术。使这些电池能够安全地融入循环/再利用经济，对于社会实现可持续性和净零碳排放的目标至关重要。通过再利用，从消费后电池中提取更多价值，这为原始设备制造商提供了经济激励，使其负责任地退役高达100%的退役电池单元，从而无需处理电池并生产新电池。该技术能够创造一个实用且安全的电池再利用市场，不仅可以为电池创造净负碳足迹，还可以缓解锂离子供应链目前面临的压力，并以更实惠的价格推动锂离子技术的发展。此外，该技术执行的详细健康状态分析将允许在二次使用电池分配方面做出更明智的决策，使储能项目经理能够在不牺牲安全性和性能的情况下降低储能的前期投资。STTR第一期项目建议开发一种新方法，以实现对二次寿命锂离子电池的快速和准确的健康状态测定。这项定制技术将利用新颖的电池建模和数据分析来了解电池的健康状况，而不仅仅是容量下降。该技术能够捕捉多种电池退化机制的综合效应，这是当前电池健康分析技术的重要进步。由于特定电池参数的退化率增加将导致电池内部独特的性能和操作限制，因此必须在评估健康状态时考虑这些参数，否则就有发生致命操作事件（如热失控）的风险。该项目的目标包括开发严格的电化学模型，以模拟锂离子电池内部高度复杂的容量衰减机制，以及开发基于算法的健康状态估计器，该估计器将利用实时数据和项目剩余使用寿命估计进行二次使用应用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is the accelerated adoption of electrification and other next-generation technologies, like renewable energy. This project proposes a technology to effectively manage end-of-life lithium-ion batteries through reuse. Enabling these batteries to be safely incorporated into a circular/reuse economy is essential for society to meet the goals of sustainability and net-zero carbon emissions. Extracting further value from post-consumer batteries through reuse provides an economic incentive for original equipment manufacturers to responsibly decommission up to 100% of their retired battery units, thereby foregoing the need to dispose of the battery and manufacture a new one in its place. The proposed technology’s ability to create a practical and safe battery reuse market will not only create a net-negative carbon footprint for the batteries but will also alleviate the stresses currently faced within the lithium (Li)-ion supply chain and bring forward Li-ion technology at more affordable prices. Additionally, the detailed state of health analysis performed by the technology will allow for more informed decision-making in regard to second-life battery allocation, enabling energy storage project managers to lower upfront investment on energy storage, without sacrificing on safety and performance.This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop a novel approach to attain rapid and accurate state of health determinations for second-life lithium-ion batteries. The bespoke technology will utilize novel battery modeling and data analytics to establish an understanding of battery health beyond capacity degradation. The technology’s ability to capture the ensemble effect of numerous battery degradation mechanisms is a significant and needed advance over the incumbent state of the art in battery health analysis. As increased rates of degradation in specific cell parameters would lead to unique performance and operating limitations within the battery, it is imperative to take these parameters into consideration with a state of health assessment, or there is a risk of fatal operating event occurrences such as thermal runaway. This project’s objectives include the development of the rigorous electrochemical model to model the highly complex capacity fading mechanisms within Li-ion batteries, and the development of an algorithm-based state of health estimator that will utilize real-time data and project remaining useful life estimates for second use applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.