The BTC-500 (Battery Testing Calorimeter) is a floor-standing adiabatic calorimeter for the safe testing of thermal, electrical, and mechanical stress (abuse) tests on larger battery cells, and small modules. Evaluation of these tests facilitates the assessment of the safety performance of battery cells, enables the battery’s safe operating limits to be defined, and facilitates research and development into the mechanisms of thermal runaway and thermal propagation.
Features and Options
Type of Test:
- Thermal stress: the BTC-500 enables a cell to be subjected to thermal stress under adiabatic conditions, allowing for assessment of its thermal stability and the characterization of thermal runaway events
- Electrical stress: Full integration with charge-discharge units supports testing of overcharging and discharging rates. External short circuits can also be applied. Resultant thermal runaway events can be characterized under “worst-case”, adiabatic conditions
- Mechanical stress: the BTC-500 can be equipped to perform nail penetration puncture tests, and allows for the characterization of the subsequent thermal runaway.
- High data rate acquisition, up to 10,000 Hz is available for characterizing extremely fast reactions. 100 Hz data acquisition and unique tests are available for compliance with GB/T 36276-2018.
- Additional capabilities to aid further mechanistic understanding of thermal propagation and thermal runaway include:
- Automated gas sampling for vent gas analysis.
- Triggering a cell at a specific position within a module to undergo thermal runaway.
- Integrated video camera to record changes to the test sample.
- Thermal mapping (multipoint temperature measurement) of a sample.
Battery/Sample Size
- Cylindrical cells (upwards from 18650), prismatic cells, pouch cells, and small modules.
- Chamber internal size - 500 mm diameter / 500 mm tall.
Temperature Control
- Ambient to 500 °C
- Optional: sub-ambient temperatures starting from -40 °C
Intelligent Software Control and Analysis
- labCONSOL software control enables regular data logging, multi-step recipes, parameter control, and feedback loops. The software adds responsive intelligence to the BTC-500 system while delivering an intuitive interface that needs only minimal training to run quickly.
Safety Features
- Automated shutdown procedures if a safety condition is exceeded to ensure user safety
- Containment vessel designed to retain fragments and fumes should a sample decompose
- N2 purge for when operating under sub-ambient conditions, or for the safe purging of hazardous gases after a thermal runaway
- Automatic hardware and software fail-safes are installed on every system