Low Cost Li-Ion Battery Storage from Recycled Cells for Distributed Power Generation Using Renewable Resources

"This research project will demonstrate an innovative battery system that utilizes recycled Li-Ion battery cell for energy storage in a small-scale distributed power plant using renewables such as solar, bio-ethanol and biomass. From using recycled cells, we estimate the proposed system will reduce cost by up 80% comparing to similar sized system. Moreover, the novel design and engineering allows for ongoing battery maintenance so the entire battery system never requires complete replacement except for swapping out individual cells that failed periodically. For example, in a battery pack of 3000 cells we would expect 10% or 300 cells requiring replacement by year 3\. Due to the system design the battery management system can identify the exact cell location and physical cell replacement can be done in under 2 minutes.

The goal of this project is to reuse lithium ion (li-ion) batteries and demostrate the batteries system for a micro-CHP power plant energy storage application. This project looks to:

(i) design a suitable battery casing and battery management system for this type of cells to allow for easy cell replacement

(ii) testing to demonstrate in a real-world distributed generation application from renewables

By using a novel battery casing design and battery management system for easy cell replacement, we expect to lower initial and on-going ownership cost significantly to expand energy storage usage for distributed generation, particularly from renewables. At the same time, this will convert a growing waste stream to a valuable second-life resource to benefit the environment. Other benefits includes: increasing utilisation intermittent renewable energy (e.g. solar and wind), and reduction of e-waste.

The real world environment testing of design is expected to be conducted to test the technical performance of batteries and commercial feasibility of business model."