Batteries Research Overview

PakaLi Battery Laboratory

Main Areas of Research:

1. Testing of batteries under representative conditions to assess durability in the field,
2. Battery diagnosis and prognosis using non-invasive and deployable techniques,
3. Battery packs modeling taking into consideration cell-to-cell variations and inhomogeneities,
4. Deployed systems state of charge and state of health monitoring,
5. Battery prototyping and electrode formulation optimization,
6. Transfer of knowledge from laboratory to real-life applications to facilitate battery engineering, cost estimate, control strategy, and decisions.

Partnerships & Funding:

PBL has been a partner with various research institutions in government, industry, and academia, in the US and abroad. Current and past funding sources include the Office of Naval Research, SAFT Batteries, the US DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (through the Idaho National Laboratory), the Department of Transportation (via the Electric Vehicle Transportation Center), the Air Force Research Laboratory (through the Hawai‘i Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies), and the Hawai‘i Renewable Energy Development Venture funds.

Equipment:

PBL is well equipped for electrode preparation and assembly for different types of half-cells (coin cells, swageloks, PAT-cells) with 30 independent channels for testing. For larger full cells, the laboratory has more than 80 channels available with temperature chambers and state-of-the art safety procedures. Material characterization including x-ray diffraction as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy, will be done in collaboration with the UHM Material Science Consortium for Research and Education.

Battery Testers

• ARBIN BT-5HC 40 channels 5V 25A
• ARBIN BT-5HC 20 channels 5V 100A
• ARBIN BT-5HC 2 channels 60V 100A
• Biologic BCS-815 24 channels 5V 15A
• Biologic VMP3 16 channels 12V 0.4A
• MACCOR 4300 4 channels 2x 5V, 2x 15V 2x 5A, 2 x 25A

Temperature Chambers

• AMEREX IC500-R -5°C-65°C, 17.7 cu ft
• AMEREX IC500-R -5°C-65°C, 17.7 cu ft
• AMEREX IC500-R -5°C-65°C, 17.7 cu ft
• AMEREX IC150-R -5°C-65°C, 5.3 cu ft
• AMEREX IC80 25°C-65°C, 2.8 cu ft
• AMEREX IC80 25°C-65°C, 2.8 cu ft
• ESTEC BTZ475 -70 to 180°C, 4 cu ft
• Sanyo MIR253 25°C-65°C, 8 cu ft
• AES LHE-6 -20°C to +94°C, 5 cu ft
• CSZ MCB 1.2-.33-.33 H/AC -70°+190°C, 1.2 cu ft
• CSZ MCB 1.2-.33-.33 H/AC -70°+190°C, 1.2 cu ft

Glove Box

• VAC NX1-100300-0123

Staff & Past Staff:

• George Baure, Jr.
• David Beck
• Arnaud Devie
• Victor Evrard