MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of an Accelerating Rate Calorimeter System for Multidisciplinary Research, Education and Outreach

该项目在密歇根大学迪尔伯恩分校建立了一个新的实验设施。该设施的主要组成部分是加速量热仪(ARC)，它将为在参与的大学开展汽车电池热行为管理领域的研究、教育和推广提供新的机会。在汽车技术向电动汽车过渡的过程中，热行为是一个重要的问题。电池在低温和高温下性能下降、电池热失控的危险、快速充电器过热等问题仍然是主要的挑战。参与该项目的大学是工程劳动力的主要提供者，也是密歇根州东南部汽车行业基础和应用研究的中心，该地区包括三大汽车制造商及其许多供应商。新设施将刺激汽车电气化和电池技术领域的研究增长。该设施将被纳入至少10门研究生和本科课程的教学中，从而帮助培养未来工程师的技能，他们将领导国家向电动汽车的过渡。为学生创造更多的研究机会。该设施还将在底特律地区开展促进多样性、公平性和包容性的外联活动，以激发STEM对K-12学生的兴趣。拟议的ARC系统是量化热行为特征的有效工具，如时空温度、反应起始温度、热容量、热释放率、压力升高率以及在常规和极端条件下产生的气体。它将在许多跨学科领域创造新的知识，包括电池退化和安全、电池材料开发和测试、电池健康监测、化学气体传感、二氧化碳吸附、电力电子和电网应用。ARC系统将通过模拟钉子穿透、粉碎、过度充电、外部短路等滥用极端条件，在实验室规模上探索危险和活性化学品的放热失控反应。ARC的密封室将确保安全运行。与典型的等温量热仪相比，ARC的一个主要优势是响应时间更短。这将使我们能够测量非常小的热释放，并作为一个例子，量化各种材料和设备的失控爆炸分解，如电池、电力电子和化学材料。收购拟议的ARC系统将使密歇根大学迪尔伯恩分校和邻近大学的20多名教职员工能够开展新的研究活动，这些教职员工都位于密歇根东南部。拟议的工具还将支持参与的大学之间以及大学和行业之间的跨学科研究合作，如福特汽车、通用汽车和星空公司。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The project establishes a new experimental facility at the University of Michigan – Dearborn. The main element of the facility, the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC), will enable new opportunities to conduct research, education, and outreach in the area of management of thermal behavior of automotive batteries at the participating universities. The thermal behavior is a significant concern for the ongoing transition of the automotive technology to electric vehicles. The problems of degradation of battery’s performance at low and high temperatures, the danger of battery thermal runaway, overheating of fast chargers, etc. continue to be major challenges. The universities participating in the project are major feeders of engineering workforce and hubs of fundamental and applied research for the automotive industry in the Southeast Michigan, which includes the Big Three automakers and many of their suppliers. The new facility will stimulate growth of research in the area of vehicle electrification and battery technology. The facility will be incorporated in instruction of at least ten graduate and undergraduate courses, thus helping to build skills of future engineers, who will lead the nation’s transition to electric mobility. Expanded research opportunities for students will be created. The facility will also enable outreach activities to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the Detroit area to inspire STEM interest in K-12 students.The proposed ARC system is an effective tool to quantify features of thermal behavior, such as temporospatial temperature, reaction onset temperature, heat capacity, heat release rate, pressure rise rate, and gas generated under regular and extreme conditions. It will create new knowledge in numerous interdisciplinary areas, including battery degradation and safety, battery material development and testing, battery health monitoring, chemical gas sensing, CO2 adsorption, power electronics, and grid applications. The ARC system will enable exploration of exothermic runaway reactions from hazardous and reactive chemicals at a laboratory scale by simulating abusive extreme conditions such as nail penetration, crushing, overcharging, external short circuit, etc. The sealed chambers of the ARC will guarantee safe operation. A major advantage of the ARC in comparison with typical isothermal calorimeters is its smaller response time. This will allow us to measure very small heat releases and, as an example, quantify runaway explosive decompositions for a wide range of materials and devices, such as batteries, power electronics, and chemical materials. Acquisition of the proposed ARC system will enable more than 20 faculty at the University of Michigan - Dearborn and neighboring universities, all located in the Southeast Michigan, to conduct new research activities. The proposed instrument will also support interdisciplinary research collaboration among the participating universities and between the universities and industries, such as Ford Motor, GM, and Stellantis.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.