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MSCA Green Deal Cluster online event. MULTIPLY Fellow Nand Meena will present his project FILON

On 6 and 7 July 2021, the European Commission and the European Research Executive Agency (REA) are organising a “European Green Deal Cluster Event”. The event will bring together excellent projects and researchers funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), as well as other research and innovation initiatives under the remit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. These include the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), European University Alliances, Erasmus+ and Creative Europe projects.

We are proud to announce that MULTIPLY Fellow from Aston University Nand Meena has been selected to participate in the Virtual Exhibition (Green Transport section). He was chosen to present his project FILONFiber Bragg Grating-based Fast and Precise Internal Monitoring of Lithium-ion Batteries in Electric Vehicles.

You could register for the event here: https://www.msca-greendeal.eu/en/page/information/

We invite you to visit the online event and the Virtual Exhibition and to vote for your favorite project (You could vote for FILON!). The Virtual Exhibition winner will be announced at the end of day 2.

About the project FILON.

The growing fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the sustainable alternatives to conventional internal combustion engine based vehicles. LIB has high power-to- weight ratio, specific energy, life cycle and energy density with low maintenance as compared to its present counterparts. However, it has extreme safety concerns thus needs robust electronics to prevent safety issues which triggers the built-in sensors design of LIBs. The emerging sensing technologies may include reaction temperature sensing (RTS), highly sensitive gas sensing (HSGS), fiber brag gratings (FBG) etc. Among these, FBG is the most promising one for fast and efficient monitoring of LIB cells to avoid human and LIB life risks. However, the technologoy is in research stage, not fully developed and commercialized yet. The objective of proposed FBG-based Battery Management System (BMS) includes accurate monitoring of, state of health (SOH) and state of risk (SOR) of LIB cells. To estimate a thermal runaways as SOR in LIBs, a temperature change of 0.01- 0.03 oC/sec is expected during thermal runaways. The noted temperature rise during thermal runaway corresponds to a shift of FBG central wavelength of 60 femtometers over a second which is not achievd yet. Therefore, the purpose of FILION is to develop a FBG based optical sensors with high resolution for fast and accurately estimation of SOR and SOH of EVs. The another purpose of the FILION is to allow the safe and fast charging of EVs at charging stations with the help FBG based sensors which is revolutionary. The outcomes of FILION are expected to be promising in the field of optics and its application to EV and power industry.

The proposed internal temperature sensing design of lithium-ion batteries, used electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, offers greater safety and optimised use of clean energy. It has potential to extend the life of battery cells by maintaining the comfortable operating temperature range. It will also proliferate the cost-effective second life use of batteries, removed from electric vehicles, in power systems for bulk renewable energy storage. The extended and safe second life use can save carbon to be emitted from cell manufacturing of extended capacity.

Potential to Lead Applications

As discussion, LIB technology remains dominant with its spillover acceptance in EVs. The battery performance and life depend on the operating temperature, performs very well at room temperature. Generally suggested operating temperature of LIB charging and discharging approximately vary between 0 to 50 and -20 to 60 degree Celsius respectively. The charging is not permitted below 0 degree Celsius. The battery degrades faster outside this temperature or comfortable temperature range with increased risk to safety sometimes lead to explosion. Moreover, it has observed that at temperature of about 130 to 160 degree Celsius the high energy materials become unstable and cause more heat generation. The temperature rise could be due to mistreated actions such as strong overcharge to increase energy hosting, and to minimise charging time. Sometimes, the overheating of cells can transit to thermal runways, where temperature exponentially increases due to series of exothermic reactions. Therefore, the extreme safety concerns need robust electronics to prevent safety issues. Presently, the battery surface temperature monitoring is in practice that does not give a clear picture of internal temperature. Therefore, the LIBs with internal sensor based monitoring is required when batteries require to charge at faster rate (>3C) in near future. The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based battery energy management system (BEMS) monitoring internal temperature of cells can offer fast and efficient use of LIBs with quick response to avoid thermal runways. It also allow the effective and safe second life use of EV LIBs in grid application when their performance falls below a certain level, usually 80% of rated capacity.  At present, many researches are focused on internal sensing of LIBs thus grow its application and market in near future.

Market Size and Exploitation

The global market of Lithium-ion batteries has grown exponentially in last ten years. It is projected to reach US$91.8 billion by 2025. Growth in EV sales and stationary energy storage applications increases the LIBs demand. The prediction shows that EVs would require 80 – 95 % and 90 – 95% of total LIB production by 2025 and 2030, respectively. Due to increasing mass manufacturing, the costs of battery packs are expected to decrease 50% by 2030. In 2017, the European Battery Alliance (EBA) was launched by the EC with the immediate objective to create a competitive manufacturing value chain in Europe with sustainable battery cells at its core. Europe ranks as the fastest growing market and expected to overtake the US in terms of battery manufacturing capacity by 2023.

Potential of Environmental Awareness and involvement of citizens and local administrators

It is expected that the continuous and precise monitoring of lithium ion cells would offer great environment benefits. The AI and optimisation based control of LIBs will facilitate their efficient use in EVs and renewable energy storage in grid applications. The global market of LIBs is expected to grow exponentially. The global supply and demand of LIB is expected to grow 77GWh in 2018 to 250-1100 GWh by 2028, and 600 to 4000 GWh by 20403. A minimum extended life of LIB can save emission, possibly produced from manufacturing of saved capacity of the battery. At present, actually 61 to 106 kg CO2 equivalent per kWh emission has reported from LIB manufacturing. In this situation, only 1% capacity extension for only one year, with minimum manufacturing emission of 61kg CO2/kWh has high potential to save 366000 to 2440000 MtCO2 equivalent across the globe. The second life application of LIBs at grid substations for renewable energy storage would further benefit the environment by reducing the demand of new manufacturing but require robust monitoring. These second hand batteries can be used in microgrid and community energy storage applications in cities/councils and by individuals.

It is projected that 131 GWh of batteries ready to be produced in Europe from 2023. The LIB manufacturing is a great industrial opportunity to reduce the EU dependence on foreign manufacturing. The home production will give a boost to EV and renewable industry which will create new jobs.

More information about the project FILON you can find at the Virtual Exhibition on 6 and 7 July 2021. Please register here: https://www.msca-greendeal.eu/en/page/information/