Heating adiabatic calorimeter and methods of use
AssigneeOmniCal, Inc.
InventorsFrank L. WU, Jeff H. WU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for initiating thermochemical events in an adiabatic reaction calorimeter are provided. The apparatus and method may be used in safety research of lithium battery and reactive chemical thermal runaways. The apparatus comprises a motor-driven conductive heating element in thermal contact with the outer surface of the reaction in the sample container for heat transfer during heating ramp. The heating element is heated and coupled to the sample container to initiate thermal runaway and transitions to a non-heating configuration once thermal runaway is initiated, which is much faster than many existing slow heating methods used to initiate thermal runaway.
Claims20
An apparatus for initiating thermal event in a sample container, the apparatus comprising:
- a heating element operable to transition between a heating configuration and a non-heating configuration, wherein when the heating element is in the heating configuration, the heating element is operable to transfer heat to a sample;
- a sample temperature sensor operable to sense a sample temperature of the sample;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled with the sample temperature sensor and the heating element, the controller being operable to determine, when a heating power regulated by the controller surpasses a detection threshold, that the thermal event is a thermal runaway,
- wherein, when the thermal event is a thermal runaway, the heating element is transitioned to a non-heating configuration such that the heating element is not providing heat to the sample,
- wherein the heating element is coupled with a thermally non-conductive component.
A method for initiating a thermal event in a sample container, the method comprising:
- heating, by a heating element, a sample to initiate the thermal event;
- determining, when a heating power surpasses a detection threshold, that the thermal event is a thermal runaway,
- when the thermal event is a thermal runaway, transitioning the heating element to a non-heating configuration such that the heating element is not providing heat to the sample container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.