Battery research for Electric Vehicles

By Dr Jasbir Singh

after a thermal "abuse" test in a BTC

There is a proliferation of conference events on Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries worldwide and we attended a conference and exhibition on EV batteries in London on 30-31 March.

This was well attended with visitors from many countries representing car manufacturers, universities, battery producers and service and instrument providers such as HEL. We exhibited our smaller scale battery testing calorimeter which is used for basic research into battery components and chemicals; our system for evaluating larger packs – the Battery Testing Calorimeter (BTC) is rather difficult to transport, and we decided to leave it at the office this time...

I also made a presentation at the conference, presenting results of batteries tested for safety under adiabatic conditions and including data from cyclers integrated into the control software which allows charging and discharging limits to be explored.  Contact marketing@helgroup.com for a copy of the presentation.

HEL is hiring...

Looking for a career opportunity ? Check out HEL's Careers Page...

We are currently looking for:
Technical Applications Specialist - Borehamwood, UK
Project Manager - China
Technical Support & Service Engineer - NJ, USA
Sales Executives/Account Managers - India

Flow Technology Expo at Pfizer Groton

HEL Inc will be displaying the unique FlowCAT reactor system at Pfizer's Flow Expo, Groton, CT, on Tuesday 22nd March.

FlowCAT is flexible and cost effective

Exhibition at this show is the culmination of a collaborative effort between Pfizer and HEL, Inc. on developing and improving the continuous flow high pressure system from HEL. The FlowCAT system is proven to be a cost effective production system in the scale-up from grams towards kilo volume from a flexible, lab-sized unit. The tube reactor can be easily switched, allowing hydrogenation reactions to occur in greater volumes (up to 4 fold increase) with only a minor change in hardware. All parameters and changes are programmable and monitored by the systems WinISO software, making scale-up much easier - and faster -  for chemical engineers.

Read articles and application notes

What does it look like inside the Phi-TEC BTC ?

The new feature available on the Phi-TEC BTC allows you to watch the battery during a thermal / electrical safety testing, whilst charging and discharging.  Watch the video below (no sound):

Read the Application Notes :
BATTERY LIFE-TIME TESTING WITH BTC
RUNAWAY LI-ION BATTERY EXPLOSION DURING CHARGING / DISCHARGING

Crucial help for families in disaster zones

Inside a ShelterBox

Our selected charity this Christmas, for our staff raffle and for the HEL company donations is ShelterBox.  

This is an organisation that responds instantly to natural and manmade disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need.  Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless.

You can find out where and when our boxes  are delivered :  
Box 58684
Box 58705

Christmas & New Year 2010 - Opening Hours

Please note:
HEL offices will be closing on Friday 24th December at 13:00 GMT, and will re-open on Tuesday January 4th, 2011, at 09:00.

We take this opportunity to wish our customers, suppliers and friends
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

Novel uses for the Battery Testing Calorimeter...

An Adiabatic Calorimeter - or perhaps a soup kitchen ?!

Not only suitable for battery safety testing, HEL's Phi-TEC BTC has been recently used to heat up some very cold garlic bread, arriving nearly 3 hours late - due to the snowy conditions.  

Yes, the Pizzas were cold too.  We noticed that the wide diameter of the Battery Testing Calorimeter meant that all the Pizzas could fit in there comfortably.... Needless to say, however, that we were all so hungry we ate the Pizzas cold... !