2024 Battery Safety Workshop

An ECS event Hosted by the University of South Carolina
August 5-6, 2024
Amoco Hall, 301 Main Street, Columbia South Carolina

 

Workshop Mission 

With the wide application of batteries in our current mobile society, the safety issues of batteries have become one of the top concerns. Emerging in-situ/operando characterizations, advanced experimental approaches, and modeling methodologies have been proposed to enhance understanding of the fundamental science of battery safety behaviors and provide powerful design tools for the next-generation safe battery.

We have witnessed significant scientific research breakthroughs and engineering technology development in academia and industries in recent years. In the meantime, due to the complexity of the batteries as energy storage systems, fundamental problems remain unsolved or even unidentified, hindering the further development of the battery-related industry. In this context, the Battery Safety Workshop (BSW) has been focusing on battery safety research topics since 2022. This annual workshop aims to provide an informative and inclusive forum to discuss the state-of-the-art research progress in the battery safety area. Attendees may include scientists, researchers, and engineers in academia and industry to inspire collaborative and synergic efforts toward solving battery safety issues.

 

Registration

Registration for the workshop can be acquired through the University of South Carolina Marketplace within the College of Engineering and Computing portal found here. Workshop registration is $500 with a discounted student registration of $150 with the presentation of a poster (strongly encouraged but not required). 

  • 2024 Battery Safety Workshop Regular Registration - $500 - (link)

  • 2024 Battery Safety Workshop Student Registration - $150 - (link) 

    • Students are strongly encouraged to present posters during the poster session.

 

Travel and Local Accommodation

You can fly into Colbumia (CAE) or Charlotte (CLT). Uber or other rideshare can be taken from the Columbia Airport to hotels downtown near the university. Some options for hotels are:

  • Courtyard by Marriott Columbia Downtown at USC; 630 Assembly St, Columbia, SC, 29201-4029; 10 min walk; $140-$175
  • Hilton Columbia Center; 924 Senate St, Columbia, SC, 29201; 25 min walk; $180-$200
  • Graduate Columbia, S.C.; 1619 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC, 29201; 25 min walk; $160-$175

 

Agenda

The workshop's agenda in PDF can be found here.

Speakers

All talks are invited talks. The 2024 speaker lineup is below with more to come.

Thomas P. Barrera, PhD, is President of LIB-X Consulting where he provides engineering and educational services in the broad area of lithium-ion battery power systems. Previously, Tom was a Technical Fellow for The Boeing Co., Satellite Development Center, where he led multidisciplinary teams in systems engineering of advanced space electrical power subsystem technologies. Tom is a project lead for the NASA Engineering Safety Center and was a principal on the root cause and investigative teams supporting the 2013 Boeing-787 lithium-ion battery incidents.  Tom is also the editor of a new technical reference book titled "Spacecraft Lithium-Ion Battery Power Systems" (John Wiley & Sons), has over 50 combined conference presentations and publications, and 3 US patents in the area of aviation battery safety. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UCLA, is a member-at-large for the Battery Division of the ECS, and is an AIAA Associate Fellow.

 

Guangsheng Zhang, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Before joining UAH in 2017, Dr. Zhang was a Research Associate at the Electrochemical Engine Center at Penn State. His research interests focus on the fundamental understanding of thermal-electrochemical coupled phenomena in batteries and fuel cells. In particular, his team uses in situ diagnosis to understand the failure mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries under extreme conditions, such as internal short circuit, thermal runaway, fast charging, and thermal degradation. His team received an NSF CAREER Award on lithium-ion battery internal short circuit and thermal runaway in 2023.

 

Martin Gouverneur, Ph.D. is the Senior Expert at Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production. He has over 10 years of industrial and research experience in batteries for automotive and energy storage applications. After he obtained his Ph.D. 2016 in battery electrolyte research, he worked at Bosch Germany and BMW AG as a process engineer for prismatic Li-Ion cell manufacturing. There he focused on cell safety testing and cell formation. In 2021 he joined Tesla Germany as an engineering task force member where he managed battery safety during cell production, cell pack propagation testing, and ramped up the battery cell production in Giga Berlin. His focus now at Fraunhofer is battery production industrialization and new production technologies.

 

Andrew Comerford, PhD, is a solver development manager at Altair Inc. He leads the development of the CFD team’s battery modeling initiative, which primarily focuses on thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries. In this role, he has overseen the development of a broad range of solutions, from battery electrochemistry to thermal radiation. His work aims to introduce novel methods and strategies for the simulation of battery performance and safety at both the cell and pack scales. He has over 20 years of experience developing finite element tools for computational physics in both academic and industrial sectors.

 

 

Tejas Bhavsar works at General Motors LLC. as a Battery Safety and Crashworthiness Technical Specialist. Tejas has over 23 years of experience in the Automotive Industry, most of those years working on high-voltage battery cells and EV Packs. Tejas focuses on EV Pack development and on validation for Safety and Crashworthiness performance using advanced simulation methods. Tejas leverages his expertise to develop analytical and advanced simulation methods, procedures, and guidelines for the Safety performance of high-voltage battery cells, modules, and packs. His experience covers the development of EV Packs for smaller EVs, electric SUVs, and electric trucks. Tejas has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University. He holds multiple Patents, Tools/Methods/Secrets, and awards for his achievements, leadership, and technical excellence in the area of Battery Electric vehicles and trucks. He is a DFSS Master Black Belt and continues to expand his skills in the areas of Manufacturing and Design for 6-Sigma.

 

Wenquan Lu, PhD, is a Principal Chemical Engineer at Argonne National Lab. He boasts over two decades of experience in renewable energy and energy storage technologies, including lithium batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. His current role at Argonne National Lab focuses on developing lithium-ion battery (LIB) systems for electric vehicles (EVs), covering the spectrum from fundamental understanding to applied research and development (R&D), as well as engineering. Dr. Lu has spearheaded numerous projects, under the patronage of government and industry bodies, aiming to advance LIB technologies for EV use. His collaborative work with multidisciplinary teams has endowed him with a deep comprehension of the LIB system in its entirety, which informs his vision of the present challenges and the future direction of energy storage technology.

 

Linhua Hu, PhD, is a Senior Battery Scientist and Program Manager at American Lithium Energy Corporation (ALE). He is leading the effort in developing super high energy density nano Si Li-ion cells with SafeCore, NTC, and zero-volt technology (ZTV®) for use in commercial electric aircraft, satellite, and military applications. He is co-inventor of ALE’s ZVT® which is an interrupt-safe technology in lithium-ion battery safe shipping and handling, high voltage battery pack safe assembly, and safely rebuilding used EV packs. Specifically, the high-energy lithium-ion battery can be shipped at its zero states of charge while the high voltage battery can be assembled at low voltages, which diminishes the risk dramatically. Dr. Hu received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2007 and worked as a postdoc/research assistant professor at Tsinghua University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Argonne National Laboratory. He has published 70+ research papers and US/patents.

 

Drew J. Pereira, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Electrochemistry and Battery Materials at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering under Dr. John W. Weidner at the University of South Carolina in 2021. His graduate research on the development of a multi-scale, mechano-electrochemical battery model included applied research experiences at General Motors, Savannah River National Laboratory, and NREL. After graduating, Drew spent two years at Soteria Battery Innovation Group as an R&D Manager focusing on technology development to improve battery performance and safety as well as novel experimental design to evaluate battery cell and pack safety. Drew’s current work, primarily funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Behind-the-Meter Storage (BTMS) Consortium, is focused on research and development of electrode and electrolyte materials for batteries in BTMS applications, which have a particular need for longevity and safety.

 

William Rigdon is a Sr. Engineering Manager and leader of the battery technology team at Stanley Black & Decker based out of Towson, MD where he has worked for the last 9 years.  Prior to this role, he worked under Prof. Mustain at UCONN on electrochemical CO2 reduction during his postdoctoral appointment.  At USC, he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 with Prof. Xinyu Huang focused on hydrogen fuel cells.  He has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and holds 10  granted patents.  He has contributed to many successful battery pack and charger products in the DEWALT brand of power tools.

 

Linghong Zhang, PhD, works at 3M as a Global Application Specialist in e-Powertrain and supports the development and application of 3M’s materials solutions into the EV battery packs. She is also a lithium-ion battery chemist with extensive experience with battery R&D and technology scale-up. Linghong received her bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2011, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015. She has also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory and as a senior scientist and team lead at A123 Systems.

 

Chao Hu, Ph.D., received his B.E. in Engineering Physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, in 2007 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2011. He worked first as a Senior Reliability Engineer and then as a Principal Scientist at Medtronic in Minnesota from 2011 to 2015; he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University in 2015 and worked first as an Assistant Professor and then as an Associate Professor from 2015 to 2022. He is currently a Collins Aerospace Professor in Engineering Innovation and an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Hu’s research interests are engineering design under uncertainty, lifetime prediction of lithium-ion batteries, and prognostics and health management. He serves as a Review Editor of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization and an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and IEEE Sensors Journal.

 

Nathan B. Johnson, Ph.D., Is a postdoctoral Scholar at Sandia National Laboratories. He completed his Doctorate in Chemical Engineering under Dr. Paul Albertus at the University of Maryland, College Park in Spring 2023. His dissertation work focused on coupling numerical modeling and materials scale experiments to assess the thermal safety of prospective all-solid-state lithium metal battery chemistries. Since graduating, he has worked as a postdoctoral appointee at Sandia National Labs in the Power Sources R&D organization under Dr. Loraine Torres-Castro and Dr. Alex Bates. At Sandia, his work primarily focuses on the safety, reliability, and diagnostics of a wide variety of primary and rechargeable battery chemistries from the materials scale up to the pack level.

 

Guang Xu, Ph.D., is the Robert H. Quenon endowed associate professor in the Department of Mining and Explosives Engineering at Missouri S&T. Before joining Missouri S&T in 2019, he worked six years as a faculty member at Curtin University in Australia. He has expertise in addressing atmospheric hazards associated with mining activities, including air quality and fire safety. One of his projects investigates the fire safety for battery electric vehicles and strategies for effective fire suppression. He has research funding with his share of over $2 million from both federal agencies (NIOSH, NSF, EPA) and prominent industry sponsors (BHP, Anglo-American, Caterpillar). He has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal papers with a total number of citations amounting to 2432. His research has been featured prominently, including as the top story in the American Society for Engineering Education e-newsletter and highlighted by the newsletter of the Critical Materials Institute.

 

Chris Turner, is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), of Inventus Power, a leading provider of advanced battery packs and systems for global OEMS. Chris Turner is responsible for developing and integrating new technology into next-generation products and systems. He has over 20 years of multi-disciplined battery industry experience including battery technology development and strategic development of rechargeable power systems from companies such as Sony Ericsson, AER Energy Resources, and SAFT Aerospace Batteries (formerly Gates Aerospace Batteries). Mr. Turner holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and holds several patents related to battery technology. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Rechargeable Battery Association Board of Directors (PRBA) and NAATBatt International.

 

Anudeep Mallarapu, Ph.D., is a mechanical engineering researcher within NREL’s electrochemical energy storage group. His work focuses on the Multiphysics modeling of lithium-ion batteries for failure mitigation at high strain rate deformation using comprehensive coupling approaches combining electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical models to predict short-circuit and thermal runaway response. He works with industry partners on research ranging from experimental characterization of battery materials to modeling module-level failure propagation.  Prior to joining NREL, he worked on modeling materials under large plastic deformations and automotive crashworthiness.

 

Jason K. Ostanek, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Engineering Technology at Purdue University. At Purdue University, Dr. Ostanek is director of the Applied Thermofluids Lab which conducts basic and applied research in thermofluid science across a broad range of applications. Dr. Ostanek and his team conduct numerical and experimental research on heat transfer associated with thermal runaway of Li-ion battery cells. He is also director of the Powertrain Technology Lab which is an instructional facility for teaching concepts of combustion engines, electrified powertrain systems, and alternative fuels. Dr. Ostanek has received awards for Outstanding Faculty in Discovery, Outstanding Faculty in Engagement, and Exceptional Teaching and Instructional Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic.


Dr. Brian Morin, Ph.D., is co-founder and CEO of the Soteria Battery Innovation Group, a growth company advocating for lithium-ion battery safety. Soteria has formed a consortium of companies and licensees its technology to support this mission, whose initial members include NASA, Mercedes, DuPont, Teijin, Applied Materials, Bosch, Motorola and others, who will work together to set aggressive safety standards and use branding to drive adoption.  Soteria has a technology that acts as a fuse inside the battery, preventing ignition in almost all circumstances and making the batteries far more resistant to damage, abuse, and manufacturing defects.  Soteria was named the #1 Most Fundable Company by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2018 and the #1 Advanced Material company by the US China Innovation Alliance.  Brian was President and co-founder of Dreamweaver International and was founder and CEO of Innegrity LLC, a high-performance fiber company, from 2004 – 2010. Brian served on the Technical Advisory Council of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (2016-18), on the External Advisory Board for the Clemson University Department of Materials Science and Engineering (2007-12), and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Foundation Board (2010-16).  Brian has been Vice President and/or Director of NAATBatt International from 2013 through the present.  He has also volunteered as a Guardian ad Litem in Greenville, SC, representing the best interests of foster children in the court process, and is a small group leader for 12th-grade boys at his church.

 

Safak Dogu, Ph.D., is the Head of Product Development and Research at Pomega, part of Kontrolmatik Technologies. He is a battery technology and electrochemical engineering expert with a background in Product Development and Process Engineering. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and earned his Ph.D. in LFP nanomaterial cathode synthesis and cell designs for EV fast charging. He has over 20 years of industrial and research tenure in battery-tech companies for automotive and energy storage-oriented businesses. His focus at Pomega USA is stationary electricity storage and grid resilience strategies with battery-powered systems.

 

Xiang Gao, PhD., is a distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware, focusing on the multiscale-multiphysics study of lithium-ion battery high-capacity anodes, such as Si-based materials. Previously, he held a similar position at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, contributing to the safety and performance evaluation of lithium-ion battery cells. Dr. Gao earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UNC Charlotte, where his research centered on the multiphysics behavior of Si/C composite active particles in anodes. Based on his work, he has published 24 journal papers on the top journals in the battery and mechanics fields, like Advanced Energy Materials, Nano Materials, Applied Mechanics Review, and so on. He has received numerous awards, including the Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Research Award from The Electrochemical Society in 2023.

 

Craig F. Gorin, Ph.D., Craig Gorin is an R&D Scientist within Dow Performance Silicones and is the technical leader for Dow's Global Battery Fire Protection platform. His team works closely with OEMs around the world to design and develop silicone materials to improve battery pack safety and performance. Craig’s prior work at Dow has led to the commercialization of multiple award-winning products in the areas of polymer recycling and additive manufacturing (R&D 100 Award, Edison Award). Prior to joining Dow in 2014, he obtained an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University and a PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University.

 

Peng Zhao, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering and Space Institute of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University in 2015. From 2015-2020, he is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University. His research interests primarily focus on fundamental-based and application-oriented problems in the frontier areas of combustion, propulsion, energy conversion, and safety. His current research activities include battery safety, low-carbon fuels, multiphysical numerical simulation, etc. He has published 70+ peer-reviewed articles in leading combustion and energy journals and 1 book chapter. He is a Bernard Lewis Fellow of the International Combustion Institute, session chair of the International Combustion Symposium, session organizer of SAE World Congress, and executive editor of the journal Progress of Engineering Science.


Yi Wang, Ph.D., is the Staff Vice President of FM Global and the manager of the Fire Dynamics group in the Research Division. At FM Global, he oversees the research activities of battery safety, material flammability, as well as CFD fire modeling. The research team conducts battery cell-, module- and system-level experiments to quantify thermal runaway and fire hazards and develop corresponding numerical models. Dr. Wang serves on the editorial boards of Fire Safety Journal, Fire Technology, Fire and Materials. He is also a committee member and scientific program co-chair of the International Association of Fire Safety Science (IAFSS).

 

Poster Session

All attendees are welcome to present a poster. Undergraduate and Graduate Students are strongly encouraged to present a poster on their battery safety-related research. The best student poster presentations (sponsored jointly by “Batteries” (MDPI) and NantG Power) will be awarded:

  • 1st place: $400 + Certificate + Outstanding Student Poster Presentation Trophy
  • 2nd place: $250 + Certificate
  • 3rd place: $150 + Certificate

Poster presenters are required to submit the electronic format (PPT, PDF, or JPG) of their posters to Dr. Jalilvand at golareh@mailbox.sc.edu, no later than August 1st, 5:00 pm (EST).

A suggested poster template is available here.

 

Publication 

All attendees are welcome to submit their work on the Special Issue in an open-access journal by MDPI, Batteries. 

 

Sponsors 

The Battery Safety Workshop is sponsored by the following with more to come.

          

 

 

Previous Attendees (2022-2023)

 

Organizing Committee

The 2024 Battery Safety Workshop is organized jointly by the Universities of South Carolina, Delaware, and Connecticut. The Organizing Committee is made up of:

Contact Information 

For more information please contact:

  • Xinyu Huang - huangxin@mailbox.sc.edu
  • Jun Xu - junxu@udel.edu