146 Chapter 12 This is of course only one example of a characterization testing regime, depending on the application, industry, and customer you may end up with something very similar or some- thing entirely different. Another test regime that is beginning to get some use in the lithium-ion world is the starter battery assessment test for lead acid SLI batteries. While this test set is intended for lead acid starter, lighting ignition batteries, it is also very useful in testing stop/start batteries as they will work under very similar operational cycles.
Safety and Abuse Testing Safety and abuse testing can cover a wide variety of conditions depending on the application specific requirements ranging from overcharging a single cell to overcharging a complete pack, to inserting a nail into a cell or pack to evaluate how it fails, to conducting shock and vibration testing to see how the battery fatigues over time, to spraying the enclosure with a corrosive salt spray and gravel sprays, and high-pressure water intrusion tests to replicate use in automotive applications.
Not all of these tests will be required for every application so it is important to note which market, application and geographical region your product is intended to operate in in order to determine the right set of safety and abuse tests. Published by the U.S. Sandia National Laboratories, the FreedomCAR Electrical Energy Storage System Abuse Test Manual for Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications (2006) offers a good outline of what abuse testing should be conducted on an automotive battery as well as laying out the testing conditions and data recording. The FreedomCAR test manual breaks the abuse testing into three main categories. They are:
Mechanical abuse testing—which covers crush, penetration, drop, immersion, rollover, and shock testing Thermal abuse testing—which includes thermal stability, simulated fuel fire, high-tem- perature storage, rapid discharge and charge, and thermal shock cycle testing Electrical abuse testing—including overcharge and overvoltage, short circuit, overdis- charge and voltage reversal, and partial short circuit (Sandia National Laboratories, 2006). This document was based on the work done by the United States Advanced Battery Consor- tium LLC, an industry group made up of U.S.
OEMs, government laboratories, and the Depart- ment of Energy, and their “Electrochemical Storage System Abuse Test Procedure Manual” (1999) which offered one of the first abuse testing manuals. Many of the tests included in the FredomCAR manual are also included in the USCAR abuse testing regimen, which includes: Mechanical abuse testing—shock, drop, penetration, rollover, immersion, and crush testing Thermal abuse testing—radiant heat, thermal stability, compromise of thermal insulation, overheat/thermal runaway, thermal shock cycling, elevated temperature storage testing, and extreme cold temperature testing