2011 R&D 100 Winner
Americans buy 3 billion batteries each year for consumer electronics, vehicles, and other uses. Accurate assessment of battery health and performance characteristics could be a major factor in both safety and energy efficiency.
Typical battery health meters are chemistry- or application-specific and depend on simple, non-invasive and passive measurements such as voltage, current, and temperature. A new invention called the Impedance Measurement Box (IMB) supplies two key, but previously ignored metrics: pulse resistance and power capability. The IMB, a product of Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, directly measures a wideband impedance spectrum in seconds during battery operation with no significant impact on service life. It can be applied to batteries prior to installation, confirming health before entering active service; and during regular maintenance.
The technology is based on hardware and proprietary control software that sends a low-level signal to the battery and captures the battery response. An input signal is generated that consists of sinusoids, which are strategically separated by a known frequency spread and summed together. Then, this combined signal is injected into a battery. The response is captured by a data acquisition system for the final steps: data processing, analysis, and display. The response signal is analyzed in about 10 sec with unique algorithms to determine the impedance.
Technology
Battery test device
Developers
Idaho National Laboratory
The Impedance Measurement Box Development Team
Jon P. Christopherson, Principal Developer, Idaho National Laboratory
John L. Morrison, Montana Tech, University of Montana
William H. Morrison, Qualtech Systems Inc.
Chester G. Motloch, Motloch Consulting Inc.
