Tesla is putting an effort to make battery packs safer; recently we noticed that Tesla has set powerpack to test its safety feature with impressive results. In this latest effort Tesla filed a new application for a patent for an apparatus and method for charging batteries safely. We noticed an awesome instance earlier this yr once we reported on Tesla setting hearth to a Power pack to check its security options with spectacular outcomes. A number of Tesla engineers labored on the brand new system, together with Kurt Kelty, Tesla’s longtime director of battery expertise. They utilized for the patent solely four months in the past and the appliance is now being launched.

What made Tesla to think so?

Last year, a Model S had an issue while charging due to a “short circuit in the distribution box” and it resulted in the car catching fire. Tesla said that they addressed the issue with a software update to its fleet to “provide extra security during charging”.

In order to further reduce the risk of a short circuit having a hazardous impact — though this time at the battery cell level, Tesla developed a new methodology to monitor the cells and detect a short circuit.

Right here’s the summary from the brand new patent software

“An apparatus and method for identifying a presence of a short circuit in a battery pack. A fault-detection apparatus for a charging system that rapidly charges a collection of interconnected lithium ion battery cells, the safety system includes a data-acquisition system for receiving a set of data parameters from the collection while the charging system is actively charging the collection; a monitoring system evaluating the set of data parameters to identify a set of anomalous conditions; and a controller comparing the set of anomalous conditions against a set of predetermined profiles indicative of an internal short in one or more cells of the collection, the controller establishing an internal-short state for the collection when the comparing has a predetermined relationship to the set of predetermined profiles.”

What was concluded by Tesla?

Tesla says that internal cell shorts in the industry happen about 1-5 times per million cells, which would translate to one cell every 30 to 150 cars assuming 6,000 cells per car and the same failure rate for Panasonic’s cells – though that’s not necessarily true (updated to better reflect failure rate per million). Even though it’s not a common occurrence and that it wouldn’t necessarily lead to a hazardous situation, the ability to detect internal short remains useful. That’s what the new method describes.

The battery management system would then be able to identify the single cell that is the problem and Tesla could simply swap the module and repair it. Several Tesla engineers worked on the new system, including Kurt Kelty, Tesla’s longtime director of battery technology. They filed a new application for the patent only 4 months ago and the application is now being released.