LiNa Energy: Advancing Battery Technology with NEWARE's Testing Solutions

LiNa Energy

LiNa Energy is a developer and provider of low-cost solid state sodium batteries, with a focus on the renewable energy storage market. LiNa Energy has optimized its test process by integrating NEWARE's advanced battery test equipment. This strategic partnership has enabled LiNa to meticulously measure and improve their battery technology, ensuring a new era of quality and innovation.

With NEWARE's battery test equipment support, LiNa Energy has seen a substantial increase in testing efficiency, allowing for faster development cycles and improved product quality. Over 214 test channels were established to perform detailed assessments of battery cells and modules. This can be a long process as well - some of test channels have been cycling the same batteries since the beginning of the year to validate their lifetime and degradation rates.

Jodie Fleming, Cell Scientist, leads a lot of the testing at LiNa. "Cell testing is essential to progress. In the past two years, we've rapidly expanded our testing capabilities to meet the needs of our growing business. I am proud of the work that our team has done to ensure that our products can be of the highest quality.”

Images of the NEWARE battery testing systems in operation at LiNa Energy's facility. The equipment in the background is the NEWARE Battery Testing System CT-4008Q-5V6A-S1.

NEWARE's high-precision cyclers, tailored to LiNa Energy's extensive testing requirements. Seamless integration with LiNa Energy's data lake, allowing for real-time interpretation and analysis of test results.

NEWARE Battery Testing System application in LiNa Energy battery research

1. Quality assurance and validation

NEWARE's testing systems are integrated into LiNa Energy's production line to ensure that every battery cell and module meets stringent quality standards. The testing process includes rigorous checks for performance, safety, and reliability.

2. Data collection and analysis

With over 214 test channels in place, NEWARE's system collects a vast amount of data from each battery cell or module. This data is then sent to LiNa Energy's data lake, where it is analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and potential areas for improvement.

3. Long-term performance testing

Some of the test channels are dedicated to long-term cycling tests, which involve subjecting batteries to continuous charge and discharge cycles over extended periods. This helps LiNa Energy to validate the lifetime and degradation rates of their batteries, ensuring they meet the company's high-performance standards.

4. Real-time monitoring and control

The testing systems offer real-time monitoring capabilities, allowing LiNa Energy's engineers to closely observe the performance of battery cells and modules during testing. This enables them to make informed decisions and adjustments as needed.

LiNa solid-state sodium battery kinetics uniqueness

Solid-state diffusion of sodium ions: LiNa uses a sodium-conducting ceramic electrolyte to separate the positive and negative electrodes. Sodium ions can diffuse through the ceramic, but electrons cannot. This allows for a high current density to be drawn from the battery without the risk of short-circuiting.

Overcharging: If the battery is overcharged, all of the sodium chloride in the cathode will be consumed. This will cause the cathode metal to react reversibly with the sodium chloroaluminate (NaAlCl4) forming aluminium chloride in the cathode and further metallic sodium in the anode. This reaction occurs at a higher voltage than the normal charge reaction and gives a reversible overcharge reaction. This acts as an intrinsic safety mechanism to prevent the battery from damage.

Surface area: By re-deploying proven sodium-metal-chloride in a planar format, we can increase the surface area to mass ratio, allowing for more active area for chemical reactions to occur leading to improved battery performance in terms of rates and energy density.

Phase changes in the cathode: The positive electrode of our cell is a mixture of metals, sodium chloride and sodium tetrachloroaluminate. During charging, the metals are oxidised and react with chloride ions to form metal chlorides whilst sodium ions flow through the electrolyte to the anode (sodium ions are reduced to sodium metal on the anode). Sodium chloride dissolves steadily into the sodium tetrachloroaluminate acting as a source of sodium ions and chloride ions. These reactions are reversible, such that the metal chlorides are reduced during discharge to form sodium chloride and metals again (whilst sodium metal is oxidised to sodium ions on the anode).

Side reactions: Unlike most conventional battery chemistries, one of the most attractive properties of the sodium chemistry set we deploy in LiNa cells is the lack of side reactions in normal conditions. This contributes to reliability and long service life and supports the inherent safety of the battery.

Begoña Silván Uriarte, Scientific Researcher at LiNa Energy, “Battery reaction kinetics is a critical aspect of battery technology that influences the performance, efficiency, and safety of energy storage systems. By studying and optimising these reactions we’ve developed our LiNa battery to have high all-round performance in energy storage applications.”

LiNa Energy's scientist Begoña Silván Uriarte is using the NEWARE Battery Testing System CT-4008Q-5V6A-S1 for battery testing and research.

The collaboration between NEWARE and LiNa Energy exemplifies how advanced testing equipment can be a driving force behind technological advancements.  NEWARE is proud to support LiNa Energy's commitment to excellence in battery technology development.

The above information is from LiNa Energy's linkedin.

NEWARE's responsibility and vision

NEWARE, as a leader in battery testing solutions, has been committed to innovation-driven development since its establishment in 1998, dedicated to providing outstanding services and support for Global Battery Manufacturers, Electric Vehicle Producers, Energy Storage Battery Manufacturers, as well as Enterprises, National Quality Inspection Departments, Universities, and Research Institutions. NEWARE always pursues the long-term, stays adapative, keeps tech-centered, and provides satisfactory products and services to global clients.

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