Printed Temperature Sensors for use in battery monitoring systems working within the cells/batteries

"Increased safety and performance of electric vehicles is paramount to wider adoption by the public and the UK as a whole; it is also essential to achieving the goals set out in the automotive technology roadmap . A key way to improve safety and performance is to increase the amount of sensor information from the batteries, particularly temperature. PST Sensors offers this unique ability to print temperature sensors that can be developed into arrays that are conformable to a battery cell. Current methods of measuring battery temperature only allow for single point measurements mainly on the charging circuity, which does not provide the whole picture of the cells integrity.

PST collaborating with CPI, will work together they to test the up-scaling potential of PST temperature sensors for use in battery monitoring systems. If each cell has its sensor array then the need to produce on scale is paramount, hence the need to use a cheap process like screen printing. Using such a sensors will dramatically reduce the chances of thermal runaway and allow for improved monitoring of the batteries. By improving the amount of information obtained from the batteries, PST envisage a longer life and increased range without altering the current design of EV. This will reduce the environmental impact of the EVs and their batteries further and bring their range on par with combustion engines."