creating a lithium ion battery that won’t catch fire - li ion battery cell
San Diego: US Lithium Energy headquarters, President and Union outside San Diego
Founder Jiang Fan opened the padlock door of the company's battery test room.
Here, the crouching machines pierce the batteries with nails, crush them with weight, and inject so much voltage into them while charging that they expand like mini balloons.
This abuse can cause an explosion or fire in a typical lithiumion batteries.
However, lithium batteries in the United States will not explode or ignite.
They are deformed but harmless.
The small company, which mainly supplies batteries to the US military, believes that it has come up with technology to improve the safety of rechargeable lithium --
Ion batteries are the power source for more and more electronic devices, from mobile phones to laptops, to electric cars, to household energy storage.
The technology at the core of brand security is complex and Fan doesn't give much detail.
But the core of security comes from a project by the US Department of Energy.
Energy electric vehicle batteries that do not catch fire in a collision, have been applied to soldier's wearable bullet safety batteries.
"What we did was put a fuse inside the battery, so when something went wrong inside, our fuse plugged in and cut off the current and the battery was safe," Fan said . " He holds a doctorate in solid chemistry from Arizona State University.
Reports of lithium are rare.
Over the years, the Ion battery explosion has made headlines-the last time it was Samsung's Galaxy Note 7.
The South Korean electronics giant spent $5. 3bil (RM23. 48bil)
Recall the flagship smartphone.
S. Lithium has delivered more than 20,000 batteries to Defense Department customers since 2011, and recently launched a new company called Amionx to commercialize security core technologies.
2 patents have been issued and 4 patents have been pending.
It wants to use this technology for lithium-
Ion batteries worldwide
The company is not alone in the process of making lithium.
Safer ion batteries
Some start-ups and research labs are working on new technologies, including the use of solid materials that are less stable than those used in lithium todayion batteries.
But the next shift
It will probably take a few more years.
Lithium USA says the technology can be rolled out on existing battery lines in less than six months without significantly increasing the cost of capital equipment or bill of materials.
Fan said the company has incorporated the technology into its battery manufacturing operations for its military customers.
Fan said: "People who don't know this, they may doubt it at first, but when they see our facilities, we have the same facilities as them.
This is not a lab project.
It is in real scale and it has been verified by the US military.
"Lithium in the United States may find something, said Brian Molin, president of Dreamweaver International, a supplier of advanced battery technology.
"Without going deep into their technology, but having read the patents, the concept works," said Molin, a board member of the National Advanced Technology Battery Alliance, which is a focus on electronics.
Chemical energy storage technology.
"I don't know if the implementation works.
But the concept works.
Morin added that lithium in the United States has taken a new path in improving battery safety.
"No other 10 people are trying to do the same thing," he said . ".
"So if they do, they have a unique approach. " —
San Diego Alliance-