Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPTResearch project "FaserBatt"
The "FaserBatt" project laid the foundation for the development of smart battery cells. The aim was to significantly increase the lifespan of battery cells.
For the long-term expansion of electromobility, it is essential to improve the performance of the cells and increase their range. This often leads to a reduction in service life. Intelligent batteries and battery cells can offer an approach for more efficient and resource-saving operation over the entire service life.
Sensor technology for a longer lifespan
The lifespan of conventional batteries depends on the aging of the cells, which is intensified by local temperature increases and fluctuations in the electrode voltages. These influences cause the cells to lose capacity over time and often require an early replacement.
The production of batteries not only results in high greenhouse gas emissions, but the consumption of rare raw materials has also increased enormously due to the increased demand. Technological metals such as lithium and cobalt are needed for production. The extraction of raw materials of this kind has a direct impact on the carbon footprint of the battery cell but is also associated with ecological and social impacts. It is therefore necessary to counteract the scarcity of resources in the long term.
To improve battery performance and thus become less dependent on the supply chains of problematic resources, the "FaserBatt" research project was dedicated to the development and design of a multimodal sensor for in-situ measurement of temperature and voltage in battery cells.
The new sensor system measures thermal and electrical parameter inside the cell. This data provides information about the aging of the cell and can be used in the medium term for intelligent control of the battery cells: for example, it can be used for usage dependent control of charging cycles or even trigger self-healing processes that can reverse aging phenomena such as lithium deposition on the electrodes. With intelligent sensor technology, as developed in the research project, extensive data on the cell’s condition can be collected and used for resource-efficient operation over a long period of time.
With its approach to smart sensor technology, the ‘FaserBatt’ research project focused on resource efficiency, thus complementing the currently widespread research work, which mostly focuses only on increasing the energy density or capacity of batteries.
Project partner
- Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Dresden, Germany
Funding
The "FaserBatt" research project was funded as part of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft's internal programmes. Funding reference: "Discover" 40-02200.