A Knowledge Transfer Partnership between battery and renewable energy innovation company AceOn, University of Wolverhampton and Innovate UK has ambitions to deliver new component architectures and the multi-material solutions of the future to transform the efficiency and safety of batteries and electronics.
Dr John Robinson, who completed his PhD in Advanced Materials and Additive Manufacturing at the University of Wolverhampton in 2022, was appointed to AceOn last summer as part of a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) placement to support the company’s future growth and innovation plans.
Since joining, John has been getting up to speed with the latest advances in battery technology and looking at how he can apply his knowledge of cutting-edge engineering techniques, such as metal 3D printing, to solve some of the battery industry’s biggest challenges. This has included suboptimal thermal management which is a contributing factor to issues such as the overheating of battery system electronics and lithium ion batteries, that can cause fires in electric vehicles.
John said: “Since joining AceOn in September 2022, we have been working together on some really groundbreaking ideas combining our respective specialties in a way which could be pivotal to creating a safer, electrified future by improving thermal management in battery storage electronics and systems.
“Poor thermal management causes batteries to fail, reduces capacity over time and affects performance so it’s a huge concern for battery applications and even more so as we move towards an electrified future. We are working on some new battery architecture designs to improve thermal performance and investigating innovative multi-material 3D printing solutions with the potential to manufacture insulator, conductor and semiconductor materials simultaneously.”
The innovative solutions John is working on through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership have the potential to improve battery safety and performance in the future, and also to make some significant leaps forward in second life battery applications.
John added: “There is a lot of research still to be done, so we have already applied for UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship funding to follow on from the KTP which will enable us to start a new research and development arm for AceOn to drive this crucial work forwards.”
AceOn Group managing director Mark Thompson said: “We have all been on a huge learning curve since John started with us last year. He didn’t know much about batteries and electronics and we didn’t know much about additive printing! But we have had the opportunity to learn from each other over the past 12 months and to look at the innovation challenges we are facing from two very different standpoints and that’s been transformative.
“We are super excited about the new funding bid we’ve submitted to carry on the work we are doing with John as we are only just scratching the surface of the new technologies we might be able to deliver for AceOn and for the UK battery industry as a whole.”
