Development of an Ultra-Safe Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery.

The project activities had an official start on August 15. Based on previous work, a statement of the basic design framework to be used was an important first step. The basic cell is to be a bonded flat-pack containing all active cell components in a sealed envelope. Cell integrity is to be provided by internal bonding, and not through external support. This design approach is fundamentally different from that commonly used in wound and hard-case cells, and has the advantage of ease of scaling for a variety of different form factors. An innovative variant on the fan-fold geometry has been chosen for its manufacturability advantages. Equipment capable of handling the semi-continuous requirements of the fan-fold structure had already been outlined. There are specific advantages in at least three areas 1 Control of dimensional tolerances 2 Production rate 3 Connection of power lead-outs and final assembly. Cell chemistry is viewed to be of less fundamental importance than structural considerations within the bounds of the lithium-ion concept.