Battery Pack Evaluation & Testing

Many battery systems have complex designs tailored to providing safe and reliable operation in the field. Exponent's significant experience in failure analysis and the evaluation of state-of-the-art system architectures provides us with the necessary insight needed to evaluate a battery designs for safe and reliable operation in the field.

Typical battery performance tests include:

Normal operation characterization
Temperature cycle testing
Temperature variation analysis and testing
Service life testing
Stress testing performed to evaluate response to a variety of stresses including:
- Electrical
  - Electrical overstress/overcharge
  - Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)
  - Electrical over-discharge
  - Electrical life cycle testing
- Environmental
  - Heating including hot box and flame attack
  - Altitude simulation
  - High/low humidity
- Mechanical
  - Steady force application
  - Random and controlled vibration
  - Mechanical shock including random and controlled impacts or drops
  - Crush and puncture, including nail penetration
  - Customized user abuse scenarios
  - Vehicle accident scenarios
  - UL projectile testing

Exponent routinely conducts testing to explore various aspects of lithium-ion battery safety including response to mechanical thermal and electrical abuse, cell thermal runaway propagation, and fire suppression. Some Exponent reports on this type of testing are available on the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association’s (PRBA) website: http://www.prba.org/prba/publications/battery_studies_and_reports/Default.ashx