Electrochemical storage Li-ion/Na/Zn batteries are under vast development recently for the applications in electrical vehicles (EV), electrical aircrafts, and power grids. However, technical challenges exist hindering the wider applications of batteries. For instance, battery materials are degrading during charging and discharging cycles, producing various defects inside electrodes and electrolyte. This can lead to issues such as short circuits, thermal runaway and ultimately battery failure and fire incident. In-situ monitoring and diagnosis of battery health is needed, so that early warning can be provided and necessary action can be taken to mitigate the risks of battery failure.
This project will develop ultrasound-based techniques to enable highly-sensitive detection and characterization of safety anomalies in batteries. We will build ultrasonic sensors for battery monitoring purposes. Ultrasonic waves will be used to detect and characterise battery aging process and the the signals will be analyzed to quantify the details of interior defects. A prototype measurement setup will be established and tested on various batteries. Finally we aim to establish a smart sensing system for real-time diagnosis of battery safety state.