A study of the factors that affect lithium ion battery degradation
Abstract
Secondary batteries have been applied in every aspect of our life, from cell phones, to laptops, medical devices, satellites, and renewable energy power stations. Li-ion batteries have shown superior advantages in their ability to store large amount of energy in compact spaces and their long battery life. However, battery capacity degradation, which causes battery failure, posts a serious concern to the economy and efficiency to individuals and industries. The degradation rate is affected by several factors including temperature, charge and discharge voltage, current, and the level at which the battery is charged or discharged. Understanding these factors can largely help to reduce the speed of battery failure and allow batteries to better serve their purpose. First, this thesis project did a review of existing literatures addressing how conditions including temperature, state of charge, depth of discharge, charge voltage, and C-rate affect Li-ion battery degradation rate and the conditions necessary to achieve optimal battery life. An experiment was done to study how battery chemistry, cycle frequency, and temperature affect battery degradation rate and observe how degradation affects battery performance. Results show that high and low temperature shorten battery life, cycle frequency is not consequential with Li-ion battery degradation rate, and INR batteries might have shorter battery life than IMR batteries. These findings will help consumers and companies better understand proper usage of Li- ion batteries.
Degree
M.S.
Thesis Department
Rights
OpenAccess.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.