We’re Not In The Business Of Frying Space Eggs
lithium batteries are awesome until they blow up in spectacular red flames.
The String Cells are rockstars and the liquefaction technology is making electrification viable at a commercial scale with minimal added cost.
But this whole thing won’t fly if we’re at the mercy of temperamental battery chemistry and unpredictable external conditions that aren’t under our control.
The biggest problem with today’s lithium batteries is that they come in the form of one big block containing multiple cells. If one cell inside the block overheats and catches fire, its neighbors are doomed because they have nowhere to go. BOOM it goes… every cell catches fire and you get another viral YouTube video.
We get to work to make safety a non-issue.
Any engineer worth his salt knows that you can’t count on a single mechanism to work perfectly 100% of the time. We need plans A, B, C, and Z to prevent thermal runaways or thermal excursion events — which is the industry lingo of a lithium battery getting so hot that an unstoppable chain reaction kicks in, causing the entire battery pack to go up in a ferocious red flame.
As any good parent would do, we train our little eggs to take care of themselves.
The Intrinsic Safety System
Telling lithium batteries not to overheat, ever, is like asking a teenager not to do anything stupid, ever. Eh… not a fail-safe plan.
So we built multiple intrinsic safety features to ensure that if a cell overheats, the situation can be mitigated before neighboring cells are affected.
The little independent thinker
Each String Cell is equipped with a chip programmed to protect the unit’s integrity, so it won’t do anything that could endanger its own health. For example, even if the cell receives a signal (e.g., from a hacker) that tells it to blow up, it won’t follow the command.
If a cell is at imminent risk of a thermal runaway, the system will get it to perform a rapid “charge dump” (aka, bulk discharge) by distributing the excess energy away from the cell at risk so it doesn’t have not enough charge to catch fire.
The Big Brother Is Watching
By aggregating and analyzing data that the space eggs beam back, we can detect if any cell is exhibiting abnormal behaviors (e.g., high temperature, susceptibility to high current) that indicate problems such as contamination, physical damage, QC issues, etc.
Unlike a traditional battery pack, which functions as an aggregate, our liquefaction technology makes it possible to isolate the problematic cells preemptively as soon as an issue is detected. We can take the sick kid out of commission to prevent electrochemical/thermal runaways, battery fires, chain reactions, and other catastrophic events without disabling the entire battery unit.
The Crystal Ball Joins The Party
Data mining and big data analytics have never been used in the battery world but we realized that the power of predictive analytics can nib safety issues in the bud. So we apply financial analytics models to battery technology to identify the sick kid before he gets everyone else sneezing.
Combining real-time data collected from the cells with historic information, we can predict if a problem may occur before it becomes an issue so appropriate measures can be taken. Such forecasting capability isn’t available in any other battery technology.
Plan Z: We Scoop Space Eggs Off The Ground
What happens in the highly unlikely event that we don’t catch one sneaky bugger and it manages to have a thermal excursion event?
We have designed a battery pack equipped with a mechanism that can release and disperse the cells if a thermal runaway event is imminent. The hatch opens and the cells will be dropped to the ground. They’ll then disperse so there’s not enough density to sustain a chain reaction.
The worst-case scenario is that we have a bunch of space eggs rolling around on the road. One or two of them may catch fire but they’re small enough and far enough from other cells so they will burn out in a couple of minutes without setting others on fire.
Balancing Safety With Utility
Many factors affect the propensity of thermal runaways, such as battery chemistry and casing materials. Our system makes it possible to balance energy density and the risk of catastrophic events for each specific application.
Our safety features are independent of the battery chemistry or casing materials so users can dial in all the cell’s parameters (e.g., chemistry, materials, size) to increase the capability to handle undesirable thermal events (i.e., more heat resistance, better heat conductivity, flame retardation.)
We can adjust various factors to remove conditions that can cause thermal runaways. This highly adaptable and flexible system allows us to mix-and-match the latest and safest chemistry, materials, etc. available — so the design will never become obsolete.
Putting It All Together. . .
The intrinsic safety feature is a key component of Tanktwo’s complex ecosystem that ties together technological advances in data management, wireless communications, the internet, optimization algorithms, and more.
Our patented technologies position our partners, investors, and customers in the right place and at the right time to benefit from the convergence of influences in electrification, mobility, and data analytics with minimal risks.