On October 1, 2013, in Kent, WA USA while traveling down a 4-lane state highway during morning rush-hour, a Tesla Model S sedan experienced a battery thermal runaway and ensuing fire with 6-foot high flames that destroyed the front hood area of the vehicle.
To explain why its much-heralded battery safety systems were unable to prevent the occurrence of a potentially dangerous battery thermal runaway and fire that disabled and destroyed key parts of a full-sized vehicle within a span of several minutes, Tesla proposed a theory for the event. It explains the runaway as having been caused by the car’s driver accidentally running over piece of road debris - “large metallic object” - that had been lying on the highway surface. In Tesla’s theory, this hypothetical metal object somehow rotated upwards, slammed into the car’s armored underbody with 25 tons of force, and then pierced a module in the car’s battery pack, which triggered a thermal runaway and fire.
Lattice’s alternative theory for the October 1 model S runaway incident posits that: field-failure internal electrical short (whatever its proximate cause might truly be) occurred in a single 18650 cell that was located somewhere in first front module of vehicle’s battery pack. This field-failure-triggered event caused catastrophic overheating of the affected cell, creating huge local temperature increase within a few seconds that eventually wreaked havoc within the immediate module.
Importantly, propagation of field-failure-induced super-hot runaway conditions into adjacent cells (“thermal fratricide”) within same battery pack module was slowed rather significantly by Tesla’s multi-tier, very sophisticated battery safety system engineering discussed herein. The consequent retardation of thermal propagation between cells by safety features built into the battery pack lengthened the runaway event timeline by > 2 - 3 minutes, which was observed on Oct. 1.
In this incident, Lattice believes that the Model S battery pack encountered something very different from “garden variety” thermal runaways (see Appendix 1 in this presentation for definitions and details) that Tesla’s otherwise brilliant system safety engineering was designed to thwart.
What probably occurred on Oct. 1 was very likely a much rarer, deadlier type of thermal runaway called a ‘field-failure” (again, see Appendix 1). What distinguishes field-failures from ‘ordinary’ thermal runaways are vastly higher peak temperatures in conjunction with electric arc discharges. The best that can be hoped-for under such circumstances is that a battery fails relatively ‘gracefully’ without detonating, as happened on Oct. 1, 2013.
Lattice Energy LLC - Battery energy density - product safety - thermal runawa...Lewis Larsen
Global quest to improve performance drives battery R&D toward ever-higher energy densities. High gravimetric energy density rewards battery users with lighter portable or mobile power sources and longer operating times between recharges. Product safety & reliability could be the hidden costs --- higher energy density is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. Internal electrical shorts, hot sparks, and catastrophic electric arcs are reducing durability and causing thermal runaways, fires, and even explosions in Lithium-ion batteries. Ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) may be causing some of these extreme events; engineering for LENR effects could potentially help improve future battery safety and durability.
Provides electricity grid basics, why energy storage is needed, describes the behind-the-meter application, and highlights solution for commercial and industrial,
Essentially there are 3 types of Li-ion battery cell (Cylindrical, Prismatic and Prismatic Pouch).
The documents aims to provide a simple comparative between the 3 types.
Lattice Energy LLC - Battery energy density - product safety - thermal runawa...Lewis Larsen
Global quest to improve performance drives battery R&D toward ever-higher energy densities. High gravimetric energy density rewards battery users with lighter portable or mobile power sources and longer operating times between recharges. Product safety & reliability could be the hidden costs --- higher energy density is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. Internal electrical shorts, hot sparks, and catastrophic electric arcs are reducing durability and causing thermal runaways, fires, and even explosions in Lithium-ion batteries. Ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) may be causing some of these extreme events; engineering for LENR effects could potentially help improve future battery safety and durability.
Provides electricity grid basics, why energy storage is needed, describes the behind-the-meter application, and highlights solution for commercial and industrial,
Essentially there are 3 types of Li-ion battery cell (Cylindrical, Prismatic and Prismatic Pouch).
The documents aims to provide a simple comparative between the 3 types.
A review on fuel cell and its applicationseSAT Journals
Abstract With the increase in the demand of electrical energy now it is the time to think for the alternate source of energy. In order to mitigate the demand of electrical energy and to create pollution free environment the fuel cell acts as an alternate solution. The fuel cells are very much similar to an ordinary dry cell or battery. It has an electrode, some chemical material and an electrical circuit to give the supply to an external circuit. Due to absence of rotating devices they are quite simple and efficient in nature. This paper describes about the working methods of fuel cells and their future and economic growth. Keywords: Fuel cell, Electrolyte, Electrode, DC
E-mobility | Part 3 - Battery recycling & power electronics (English)Vertex Holdings
While electric vehicles (EV) are widely viewed as a scalable green mobility solution, running on batteries may pose an impact on the environment as battery retirement concerns arise.
New innovations are emerging across the battery value chain from raw materials and cell components to battery management and sustainability. Governments and companies worldwide are participating in battery recycling efforts to ease battery material demand and alleviate supply chain concerns. As EV adoption continues to scale, regulators are drafting new laws for battery waste management.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/36mSeft
Electrical and Solar PV Systems (www.solartraining.ca)Irtaza M. Syed
Overview and basics of conventional electric power distribution and solar Photo-voltaic (PV) systems. Generation, Transmission, distribution and utilization. Power flow, anti-islanding and PV systems connection to utility. PV applications and market. (www.solartraining.ca)
PV System Basics
Introduction to relevant Codes and Standards
Permit and Field Inspector Guidelines for PV Systems
Summary of Changes in 2005/2008 National Electrical Code
This presentation gives us clear idea on Electric vehicles. Need of EV in building a new methods in transportation world to reduce carbon emissions. Need of batteries into the cars.
Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors, which uses energy stored in batteries. A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, the battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the internal combustion engine. The extra power provided by the electric motor can potentially allow for a smaller engine. The battery can also power auxiliary loads and reduce engine idling when stopped.
hybrid electric vehicle , types of hybrid electric vehicle , need of hybrid electric vehicle , plug in hybrid electric vehicle , uses of hybrid electric vehicle , regenerative braking , battery , induction motor
Lattice Energy LLC-On Oct 1 Tesla Model S Caught Fire on Highway-Has Companys...Lewis Larsen
Key takeaways:
In July 2010, Lattice began to issue public warnings about thermal runaway risks with large, scaled-up Lithium-based battery packs; on Slide #54 in an August 6, 2013 Lattice presentation subtitled “A Fool’s Paradise” we questioned whether Tesla’s engineering had solved problematic runaway issues, or whether they had just been lucky - so far.
October 1, 2013 fire incident (really a form of battery runaway) with Tesla Model S that occurred near Seattle, WA suggests that they had merely been lucky to date --- battery thermal runaway issues have not yet been truly solved by Tesla Motors or anyone else.
As seen in the progression of news stories quoted from herein, Tesla began the news cycle by trying to assert that the battery pack had nothing to do with the hot fire that consumed the front end of a $70,000 car. By Wednesday evening they finally admitted that the battery was in fact the culprit, but that the incident had been triggered by the vehicle’s impact with “metal debris” that had been lying on the road surface and that consequent mechanical damage to battery cells triggered the thermal runaway fire event; they are emphatically asserting that the battery did not catch fire spontaneously.
While Tesla’s theory of the incident is plausible, it is inconsistent with statements made by the highway patrol officer --- trained to be keenly observant --- who first investigated the accident scene and found no evidence whatsoever of any claimed “metallic debris.”
Unless conclusive physical evidence is revealed that proves otherwise, Lattice believes it is more likely that the fire was caused by a spontaneous heat-event inside the battery.
Panasonic Corp is the biggest supplier of lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars - Panasonic will supply twp billion lithium-ion battery cells to Tesla Motors in the next four years per recently inked new agreement; through 2017
A review on fuel cell and its applicationseSAT Journals
Abstract With the increase in the demand of electrical energy now it is the time to think for the alternate source of energy. In order to mitigate the demand of electrical energy and to create pollution free environment the fuel cell acts as an alternate solution. The fuel cells are very much similar to an ordinary dry cell or battery. It has an electrode, some chemical material and an electrical circuit to give the supply to an external circuit. Due to absence of rotating devices they are quite simple and efficient in nature. This paper describes about the working methods of fuel cells and their future and economic growth. Keywords: Fuel cell, Electrolyte, Electrode, DC
E-mobility | Part 3 - Battery recycling & power electronics (English)Vertex Holdings
While electric vehicles (EV) are widely viewed as a scalable green mobility solution, running on batteries may pose an impact on the environment as battery retirement concerns arise.
New innovations are emerging across the battery value chain from raw materials and cell components to battery management and sustainability. Governments and companies worldwide are participating in battery recycling efforts to ease battery material demand and alleviate supply chain concerns. As EV adoption continues to scale, regulators are drafting new laws for battery waste management.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/36mSeft
Electrical and Solar PV Systems (www.solartraining.ca)Irtaza M. Syed
Overview and basics of conventional electric power distribution and solar Photo-voltaic (PV) systems. Generation, Transmission, distribution and utilization. Power flow, anti-islanding and PV systems connection to utility. PV applications and market. (www.solartraining.ca)
PV System Basics
Introduction to relevant Codes and Standards
Permit and Field Inspector Guidelines for PV Systems
Summary of Changes in 2005/2008 National Electrical Code
This presentation gives us clear idea on Electric vehicles. Need of EV in building a new methods in transportation world to reduce carbon emissions. Need of batteries into the cars.
Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors, which uses energy stored in batteries. A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, the battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the internal combustion engine. The extra power provided by the electric motor can potentially allow for a smaller engine. The battery can also power auxiliary loads and reduce engine idling when stopped.
hybrid electric vehicle , types of hybrid electric vehicle , need of hybrid electric vehicle , plug in hybrid electric vehicle , uses of hybrid electric vehicle , regenerative braking , battery , induction motor
Lattice Energy LLC-On Oct 1 Tesla Model S Caught Fire on Highway-Has Companys...Lewis Larsen
Key takeaways:
In July 2010, Lattice began to issue public warnings about thermal runaway risks with large, scaled-up Lithium-based battery packs; on Slide #54 in an August 6, 2013 Lattice presentation subtitled “A Fool’s Paradise” we questioned whether Tesla’s engineering had solved problematic runaway issues, or whether they had just been lucky - so far.
October 1, 2013 fire incident (really a form of battery runaway) with Tesla Model S that occurred near Seattle, WA suggests that they had merely been lucky to date --- battery thermal runaway issues have not yet been truly solved by Tesla Motors or anyone else.
As seen in the progression of news stories quoted from herein, Tesla began the news cycle by trying to assert that the battery pack had nothing to do with the hot fire that consumed the front end of a $70,000 car. By Wednesday evening they finally admitted that the battery was in fact the culprit, but that the incident had been triggered by the vehicle’s impact with “metal debris” that had been lying on the road surface and that consequent mechanical damage to battery cells triggered the thermal runaway fire event; they are emphatically asserting that the battery did not catch fire spontaneously.
While Tesla’s theory of the incident is plausible, it is inconsistent with statements made by the highway patrol officer --- trained to be keenly observant --- who first investigated the accident scene and found no evidence whatsoever of any claimed “metallic debris.”
Unless conclusive physical evidence is revealed that proves otherwise, Lattice believes it is more likely that the fire was caused by a spontaneous heat-event inside the battery.
Panasonic Corp is the biggest supplier of lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars - Panasonic will supply twp billion lithium-ion battery cells to Tesla Motors in the next four years per recently inked new agreement; through 2017
Lattice Energy LLC-Widom-Larsen Theory Explains Data Presented in New Mitsubi...Lewis Larsen
Widom-Larsen theory of LENRs can successfully explain the various experimental data that was presented and discussed in the recently published, LENR-related US patent application filed June 8, 2012, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan), US 2012/0269309 A2.
Readers are encouraged to download copies and compare various details of Lattice’s fundamental patent US # 7,893,414 (issued by the USPTO on February 22, 2011) with Mitsubishi’s above-noted, recently published US application.
Mitsubishi uses their EINR model published in 1998 to explain their experimental data; however, it is strictly a conceptual phenomenological model and does not explain physics of exactly how LENR catalytic neutrons are formed and why copious energetic neutron radiation is not observed; neither does it explain why prompt and delayed MeV gamma radiation is not emitted during neutron captures on various isotopes.
Widom-Larsen theory of LENRs, as published in 2006 and 2010, fully explains the physics of ultra-low momentum neutron production, as well as the absence of deadly fluxes of energetic neutrons and ‘hard’ MeV-energy gamma radiation; Widom-Larsen theory’s deep insights in detailed device physics enables meaningful engineering of useful LENR devices for controlled production of thermal energy and/or purposeful transmutation of elements to accomplish a variety of objectives.
Conclusions: the Widom-Larsen theory of LENRs can successfully explain the various experimental data that was presented and discussed in the recently published, LENR-related US patent application filed June 8, 2012, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan), US 2012/0269309 A2.
As a parting thought, please note that a number of large Japanese companies now have ongoing LENR R&D programs --- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota Central Research, and Toyota Motors, among others. That being the case, it is highly likely that one or more companies, somewhere, sometime in the not-too-distant future, will eventually succeed in commercializing LENRs.
IAM Methods 2.0 Presentation Michael Nielsen DeloitteIBM Sverige
Deloitte gave their view on an approach for successful identity and access management governance projects togehter with IBM Security Systems and CrossIdeas, an IBM company.
Lattice Energy LLC- Forbes-Hannah Elliott Interviews Tesla Spokesman-No Answe...Lewis Larsen
Key takeaways:
Prior to 9:00 AM on Thursday, October 3, 2013 Lattice stated the following in a “Key take-aways” section on Slide #2 in a 23-slide PowerPoint referenced on slide #7 herein; quoting,
“While Tesla’s theory of the incident is plausible, it is inconsistent with statements made by the highway patrol officer --- trained to be keenly observant --- who first investigated the accident scene and found no evidence whatsoever of any claimed ‘metallic debris’ … Unless conclusive physical evidence is revealed that proves otherwise, Lattice believes it is more likely that the fire was caused by a spontaneous heat-event inside the battery.”
Later in the morning, staff writer Hannah Elliott of Forbes interviewed Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Tesla’s Director of Global Communications and published the resulting news story at 1:00 PM EST; excerpts of key passages from her article are provided in next three slides.
So far, Tesla’s official answers to Elliott’s very reasonable questions about key factual details involving this notable battery-related incident are neither timely nor adequate.
Consequently, the onus is still on Tesla to: (1) conclusively prove the existence of a “large metal object” that was lying on the road surface; (2) provide a detailed physical description of that particular object, presuming it exists and can be found; and (3) provide a detailed explanation as to how physical damage sustained from the vehicle impacting that specifically identified object could plausibly trigger the ensuing battery thermal runaway.
If Tesla is unable to answer these crucial questions, Lattice’s conclusion still stands: it is more likely that the runaway was caused by a spontaneous heat-event inside the battery.
Lattice Energy LLC- Field Failures and LENRs in Lithium-based Batteries-Jan 2...Lewis Larsen
LENRs are potentially another mechanism for producing so-called field failures that can trigger catastrophic thermal runaways in Lithium-based batteries; may sometimes, but not always, be associated with internal electrical shorts.
Why Tesla will forever change the economics of the battery industryJason Fernandes
Tesla shocked the world this June when they announced a patent giveaway that would enable other electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers’ access to Tesla’s innovations at no cost. The company’s CEO Elon Musk spilled the beans in a recent blog post announcing that Tesla “... will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”
) Tesla Motors (in 2013) Will Sparks Fly in the Automobil.docxhoney725342
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Tesla Motors (in 2013): Will Sparks Fly in the Automobile Industry?
FRANK T. ROTHAERMRL
ERIN ZIMMER
• MHE-FTR-017
0077645065
Tesla Motors (in 2013): Will Sparks Fly in the Automobile
Industry?
AUGUST 8, 2013. It is 1:04 a.m. in Fremont, California, and Tesla Motors CEO, chairman, and product archi-
tect, Elon Musk, is wide-awake at his desk in the Tesla Motors manufacturing facility taking the last sip from a can
oflow-carb Monster Energy drink. He has barely slept in two days and has over 250 unread e-mails in his inbox,
40 some new messages on his voicemail, and a full day of meetings ahead of him that are unlikely to end before
10:30 p.m. In addition, he has a board of directors meeting that is fast approaching, at which he needs to present
the latest manufacturing and financial information for Tesla Motors. The board will take even greater interest in
these details now that the stock price has crested the $150 mark.
Musk reaches for his smartphone to check the latest round of urgent text messages as he glances at the award for
the Tesla Model Son his desk-2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year-and smiles. As a serial entrepreneur, he is chas-
ing his dream: to leave a legacy. Musk has been described as "Henry Ford and Robert Oppenheimer in one person,"1
as well as "Tony Stark, the eccentric inventor better known as Iron Man."2 Indeed, Musk made a cameo appearance
in Iron Man 2. He believes Tesla just might be the compati.y through which he can leave his mark in the history
books. However, with several pressing issues and three companies to run, can he find a way to make it all work?
As Musk attempts to prioritize all of the critical information that must be reviewed for the day ahead, he con-
templates the many obstacles still in his path at Tesla Motors. Is Tesla the next great American car company? Can
it disrupt the market with electric vehicles just as Japanese and Korean car companies did in the past with their
high-quality, low-fuel-consumption combustion vehicles? What is the competition doing to compete with Tesla,
and how will Tesla need to change or adjust its strategy accordingly? Can an electric car company really create
a sustainable competitive advantage with a limited infrastructure? Is Tesla's business model sustainable? Most
importantly, can Tesla scale production to meet demand for the Model S and its upcoming Model X while main-
taining the same high quality and yet drive down costs? Or, should Musk seek to either sell to an established car
company, or partner even more closely with one that already has an equity stake in Tesla?
As the time nears 2: 18 a.m., Musk curls up on the sofa in his office and wonders, "What will the next few years
bring for this company, and what should I do to ensure its success?"
Elon Mnsk: Engineer Entrepreneur Extraordinaire
In 1989, Elon Musk left his native South Africa at age 17 to avoid being conscripted into the army. Says Musk,
"I don't have an is ...
Lattice Energy LLC- Technical Discussion-NTSB Logan Dreamliner Runaway Data S...Lewis Larsen
NTSB’s experimental data implies that the local temperature of the battery casing’s Type 304 stainless steel hotspots directly exposed to the internal short’s arc plasma didn’t just get to the melting point of such steel (~1,482 degrees C) --- instead these local areas got all the way up to the boiling point of stainless (> 3,000 degrees Centigrade), were turned into a gaseous vapor (expanding in volume by >50,000 x in the process of vaporizing); solid steel then recondensed from hot metallic vapor in the form of perfect nanoscale steel spheres as portions of the super-hot metallic Fe-alloy vapor quench-cooled. We will now briefly review some high points and conclusions concerning this important factual data:
Almost nothing can withstand enormous, star-surface-like local temperatures created by arcs or LENRS and remain unreactive.
Creation of nightmarish local “witches’ brew cauldrons” of inter-reacting compounds and ions in some regions of failing batteries; very fast, hyper-accelerated reaction rates in superheated zones.
Witches’ cauldrons can generate their own supplies of Oxygen to support combustion processes that propagate spatially within and between battery cells via fast-moving, autocatalytic flame-fronts coupled with intense emission of thermal infrared and UV radiation.
Arc- and/or LENR-heated regions’ behavior is almost more akin to chemistry of stellar atmospheres than ‘normal’ electrochemistry.
Speculation - extreme events involve thermite-like pyrotechnic metal reactions.
Damage observed to materials located inside Logan battery enclosure were consistent with main destructive processes being venting and partial combustion of flammable electrolyte liquids; measured weight loss of ~6 lbs. vs. exemplar battery is consistent with this hypothesis; no large-scale evidence for occurrence of thermite-like pyrotechnic reactions; if so, would have had vastly worse damage.
Conclusion: Logan battery runaway was not a worst-case Armageddon scenario.
Lattice Energy LLC - Clive Irving publishes Daily Beast story implicating lit...Lewis Larsen
Clive Irving’s October 15, 2015 Daily Beast article is a truly excellent piece of investigative journalism and must-read for anyone interested in understanding the likely fate of the Boeing 777 aircraft in Malaysian Airline's ill-fated flight MH-370
Theory of the mysterious MH-370 event propounded in his article --- that (1) a fiery conflagration triggered by a Lithium-ion thermal runaway battery fire in Motorola cargo positioned in close proximity to the Boeing 777’s forward avionics bay; and (2) breached a nearby bulkhead which compromised the integrity of key aircraft equipment located in that bay; and that (3) toxic fumes and smoke from the fire subsequently incapacitated or killed the flight crew and passengers --- is fully consistent with the presently known collection of facts about this tragic incident
Irving and his technical experts theorize that --- a very hot Lithium-ion battery fire and perhaps explosion (1) could occur spontaneously and (2) release enough thermal energy to fuel a catastrophic cargo fire capable of (3) damaging the plane’s avionics bay and (4) ultimately incapacitating most if not all of the people on board MH-370 --- is fully consistent with Lattice’s predictions about the likely probabilities and dangerous heating behavior of spontaneous thermal runaways, especially those called “field-failures” that can occur in Lithium-based batteries
Conclusion: Lithium-based batteries in air cargo can pose very serious safety risks
Lattice Energy LLC- Containment of Lithium-based Battery Fires-A Fools Paradi...Lewis Larsen
Focus is on thermal runaways in primary and secondary lithium-based batteries; includes:
• High-level historical overview: battery chemistries and increased energy density
• Peak temperatures that can possibly be reached during thermal runaway events
• Scaling-up electrical storage capacities can cause increases in safety-related risks
• Different causes of thermal runaways
• Examples of runaways involving portable devices and various mobile platforms
• Runaways in advanced Boeing 787 aircraft
• Incident examples: worst-of-the-worst
• Analysis and commentary on Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s battery containment system
Similar to Lattice Energy LLC- Technical Discussion-Oct 1 Tesla Motors Model S Battery Thermal Runaway-October 16 2013 (17)
Lattice Energy LLC - Strategic importance of accelerating commercialization o...Lewis Larsen
Prospects for commercialization of LENRs have radically improved. New Lattice report “Strategic importance of accelerating commercialization of LENRs for green radiation-free nuclear power and propulsion” aims at a broad audience and outlines strategic case for greatly increasing R&D funding to accelerate development of ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) for CO2-free power generation. Recent Japanese government-funded NEDO project solved previously intractable problems with rational device design & fabrication, experimental repeatability, and erratic, limited thermal output that bedeviled researchers worldwide since 1989-90.
Given spectacular Japanese progress, it appears very likely that LENRs will be commercialized, probably sooner rather than later. Today, Japan is by far the experimental leader along that path; heavily involved companies include Mitsubishi Heavy industries, Toyota, and Nissan..
Lattice Energy LLC - Green hard-radiation-free len rs could provide game-chan...Lewis Larsen
Green hard-radiation-free ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) could provide game-changing nuclear power for military combat systems ranging from aircraft to individual warfighters. LENRs are the only energy technology on the foreseeable horizon that could provide a quantum-leap in military power generation and propulsion capabilities in the 2030 - 2050 time-frame.
Lattice Energy LLC - LENRs enable green radiation-free nuclear power and prop...Lewis Larsen
If commercialized, LENRs could become one of the world’s preeminent energy technologies. At system electrical power outputs of just 5 - 10 kwh, modular LENR-based distributed power generation systems providing combined heat and electricity (CHP) could satisfy energy requirements of a majority of urban and rural households as well as smaller businesses worldwide. Much lower-output, revolutionary portable LENR power sources could displace chemical batteries in applications where ultrahigh performance and longevity are needed.
At electrical outputs of 60 - 200 kwh, LENR-based integrated power generation systems would be able to power vehicles, drones, as well as smaller aircraft and watercraft. This would break oil-based fuels’ 150-year stranglehold on internal combustion engines and decisively decarbonize the entire transportation sector. High-performance LENR thermal sources could also provide high-quality heat for many types of industrial processes.
Although they could very likely be designed and built, development of megawatt-output LENR systems is not mandatory to disrupt the world of energy for the better. If wide deployment of small-scale, low-cost LENR CHP distributed generation could be achieved, large numbers of fossil-fired and/or fission power plants would not have to be built to supply competitively priced, uninterruptible electricity to regional grids serving urbanized areas. Under that scenario, centralized grid power generation would be gradually displaced by vast numbers of smaller, price-competitive distributed LENR power systems inside homes and businesses.
Lewis Larsen - DJIA approaches previous all-time record high close of 26828 -...Lewis Larsen
Dow-Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is approaching previous all-time record high close of 26,828 - what happens next? If U.S. economy speeds-up by 3Q 2019 and/or good China-US trade deal is completed, DJIA could hit new all-time highs and increase by 3,000 to 6,000 points during next 6 - 18 months.
Lattice Energy LLC - Microbial radiation resistance transmutation of elements...Lewis Larsen
Microbial radiation resistance, possible transmutation of elements, and the dawn of life on Earth
Multi-species communities of microorganisms will expend energy to assimilate and process heavy elements like Cesium, Gold, and Uranium that -- now -- play no obvious roles in growth or metabolism. Credible experimental data suggests some bacteria are shifting isotope ratios and possibly even transmuting certain elements. How and why are microbes doing this? LENRs may explain how, but why?
Although credible experimental data suggests some microbes can transmute certain elements via LENRs, much more experimentation will be required to decisively demonstrate that microorganisms can truly transmute chemical elements at will and determine which species of microbes have such capabilities. LENRs may not be all that uncommon out in Nature; if so, there will be major implications for geochemistry, isotope geology, and nuclear waste remediation.
LENRs can mimic isotopic effects of mass-dependent and mass-independent chemical fractionation. Elements and isotopes conserve their mass-balances in purely chemical systems; that is not necessarily true if LENRs are also occurring in same systems. Accurate measurement of total mass balances for all chemical species may be needed to discriminate between chemical and nuclear processes.
ULE neutron-catalyzed transmutation is not energetically practical for more-abundant chemical elements found in living systems such as Carbon. However, transmutation could potentially be an energetically feasible and advantageous capability that could enable some fortunate microbes to produce life-critical, low-abundance catalytic active site metals that are unavailable in local environments.
Japanese government-funded project with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota, Nissan, and four universities is developing abiotic LENRs for power generation. Recently reported outstanding heat production results at working temperatures and pressures far lower than those found in many undersea hydrothermal vents.
Lattice Energy LLC - Korean scientists use bacteria to reduce concentration o...Lewis Larsen
Korean scientists used experimental laboratory mixtures of bacteria to reduce concentration of radioactive Cesium-137 (as indicated by gamma emissions) present in aqueous growth solutions irradiated with light at 12-hour intervals, shaken, and incubated at 25o C.
During experiments, and compared to controls, measured gamma radiation for flasks containing bacteria decreased at vastly higher rates than would be expected for ‘normal’ rate of Cs-137 β-decay. Is radioactive Cesium actually being transmuted into heavier Cs isotopes and other elements by living bacteria?
Lattice Energy LLC - Widom-Larsen theory reveals surprising similarities and ...Lewis Larsen
Widom-Larsen theory unveils additional surprising similarities and connections between LENRs and chemical catalysis.
Synopsis: recent extensions of the Widom-Larsen theory of LENRs have for the first time revealed additional striking and unexpected similarities between electroweak nuclear catalysis --- collective many-body en + pn reaction in condensed matter --- and enzymatic catalysis, inorganic chemical catalysis, plasmon-mediated chemical photocatalysis with “hot” charge carriers, as well as widely published nanotechnology concept of heterometallic plasmonic antenna-reactor nanoparticles for photocatalysis. Among a number of surprising commonalities between LENRs and chemical catalytic processes, many-body collective quantum effects and high local electric fields > 1010 V/m enable many chemical reactions and LENRs to proceed with substantial rates at vastly lower working temperatures and pressures. Existence of all these unexpected parallels suggests that valuable engineering insights can be obtained by data mining state-of-the art technical knowledge about nanotech and chemical catalysis and then applying and leveraging new insights derived therefrom to help accelerate future development of LENRs for power generation.
Lattice energy LLC - Chinese chemists report photochemical triggering of LENR...Lewis Larsen
Experiments reported in 2017 by Prof. Gong-xuan Lu et al. at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, in Lanzhou, China showed photocatalytic triggering of ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) at NTP with visible light. Experimental results reported in “Journal of Molecular Catalysis” (China) in 2017 claimed production of Deuterium and Helium as well as nuclear transmutation of Potassium to Calcium. Very significant discovery if experimental claims can be independently confirmed by other researchers using same methods. If Lu et al.’s claims are confirmed, their work has important implications. For chemical catalysis, it suggests that LENR transmutations can occur at very low rates in parallel with ordinary chemical reactions; LENRs can coexist and interoperate at NTP. Also implies total mass-balances for chemical elements comprising reactants and products might not necessarily be conserved. For astrophysics and cosmochemistry, it means that nucleosynthesis can occur on surfaces of Hydrogen- and metal-rich dust grains irradiated by starlight.
Lattice Energy LLC - LENR experiment conducted by The Aerospace Corporation r...Lewis Larsen
LENR experiment conducted independently in 2017 by The Aerospace Corporation (non-profit company that operates a FFRDC) effectively repeated excess heat results reported by the Japanese government-funded NEDO LENR fabrication and testing project. Experimental data from this confirmatory experiment was reported by Dr. Edward Beiting, a physicist and Senior Scientist at The Aerospace Corporation, in a presentation that occurred on June 5, 2018 at the ICCF-21 conference held at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Lattice Energy LLC - LENRs are revolutionary disruptive energy technology for...Lewis Larsen
Safe, radiation-free ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) expand use of nuclear power & propulsion into huge range of land vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, and spacecraft. Scales downward from large fission reactors used in nuclear naval aircraft carriers and submarines. Enormous energy densities of LENR-based power & propulsion technology could confer decisive combat systems advantages on near-future battlefields.
Lattice Energy LLC - Revolutionary LENRs for power generation - accelerating ...Lewis Larsen
Commercialization of radiation-free ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) for power generation could potentially occur with surprising speed. In just 2.5 years, Japanese government NEDO-funded LENR device fabrication and testing project achieved TRL-4 (refuting the skeptics) and validated application of Widom-Larsen theory, materials science, and nanotech to help accelerate commercialization pathway from present developmental level of TRL-4 to future commercial LENR-based products at TRL-9.
Lattice Energy LLC - March 2 Technova seminar in Tokyo released more info re ...Lewis Larsen
Japan’s NEDO-sponsored LENR device project released additional technical details at Technova seminar held in Tokyo on March 2, 2018. Japanese government is targeting commercialization of LENRs as a revolutionary, radiation-free nuclear technology for use in power generation and propulsion applications. NEDO project results to date have demonstrated Watt-level reproducibility of excess heat in small nanocomposite LENR devices. Assuming substantial scale-up of device heat output is possible, NEDO project’s technical achievement validates future potential for LENRs to someday become an important source of green CO2-free energy.
Lattice Energy LLC - Russia announces nuclear fission-powered cruise missile ...Lewis Larsen
In globally televised speech on March 1, President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia has successfully developed and tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile with unprecedented performance capabilities. If real (which appears likely), this advanced weapon system is probably powered by an unshielded Uranium fission reactor. Such a propulsion system would almost certainly produce large emissions of deadly energetic neutron/gamma radiation and release radioactive waste particulates into reactor exhaust plumes that would be rather dangerous to exposed people and the environment.
Radiation-free ultralow energy neutron reactions (LENRs) --- which involve neither fission nor fusion --- now under development by Lattice, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota, and Nissan are a truly safe, green nuclear technology. Importantly, LENRs can potentially be scaled-up and might someday be able to safely propel future missiles, manned aircraft/UAVs, manned submarines/UUVs, and everyday motor vehicles.
Lattice Energy LLC - Japanese NEDO industry-academia-government project - nan...Lewis Larsen
Nanocomposite LENR devices in Japanese NEDO industry-academia-government R&D project produced enough cumulative excess heat to boil a cup of tea.
Since 1989, production of calorimetrically measured excess heat during vast majority of experiments with purpose-fabricated LENR devices was a hit-or-miss proposition. When excess heat produced, was typically < 1 Watt for periods ranging from few hours to several days. NEDO greatly improved device fabrication, reproducibility, longevity, and excess heat performance.
For years skeptics summarily dismissed LENRs as a potential new energy source because experiments were unable to produce enough excess heat to even “boil a cup of tea.” Thanks to results of NEDO project, not any more.
NEDO project has demonstrated that LENRs can produce non-trivial, Watt-level amounts of excess heat from nanocomposite multi-metal devices without emission of deadly fluxes of energetic neutron or gamma radiation --- it is safe, radiation-free nuclear technology.
Lattice Energy LLC - Japanese NEDO LENR project reported reasonably reproduci...Lewis Larsen
Japan’s NEDO industry-academia-government R&D program’s recent experimental results technically validated potential for LENRs to become major future energy source.
Excess heat was produced in ~ 80% of project’s reported LENR experiments. Whenever excess heat was created, it is most often at Watt-levels or better at reactor operating temperatures of 200 - 300 degrees C. Duration of excess heat production ranged up to weeks, which is non-trivial. Such LENR device behavior represents excellent reproducibility for complex early-stage technology. With respect to reproducibility of device fabrication methods and heat production, these are best-ever experimental results reported to date in field of LENRs.
Watt-level excess heat was produced in Hydrogen (H)- and Deuterium (D)-loaded experimental systems. No deadly energetic (MeV-energy) gamma or neutron radiation was detected during heat production in any project experimental runs. Such observations are consistent with and predicted by the Widom-Larsen theory of LENRs which posits production and capture of ultralow energy neutrons on ‘fuel’ atoms which drive hard-radiation-free nuclear transmutation reactions and decays that release nuclear binding energy in form of copious heat.
In Lattice’s opinion, NEDO project’s outstanding experimental results change LENRs’ Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from TRL-3 to TRL-4 (European Commission definitions). This is an important step in commercialization of LENRs for power generation applications.
Lattice Energy LLC - Japanese NEDO LENR project reported good progress in exc...Lewis Larsen
Japan now funding R&D in LENR technology for use in power generation applications. Quietly threw down the gauntlet to global oil industry.
January 2018: terse project report summarizing progress in Japanese government NEDO-funded R&D in LENRs for period of Oct. 2015 through Oct. 2017 was released by Technova Inc. on ResearchGate. Herein we will review and discuss NEDO project’s reported progress.
Project scientists reported significant R&D progress toward developing LENR devices that serve as powerful heat sources. Reproducibility of device fabrication techniques and excess heat output were improved. Certain nanocomposite, multi-metal LENR test devices with mass <140 grams cumulatively produced up to ~85 megajoules (MJ) of excess heat per mole (MJ/mol) of absorbed Hydrogen (H) or Deuterium (D); some: duration of heat > 1 month. By contrast, complete combustion of Hydrogen releases ~0.286 MJ/mol of H. Chemical processes cannot explain these results.
Japan, Inc. appears to be developing LENR technology to someday replace the internal combustion engine.
Lewis Larsen - Dow-Jones Industrial Average reaches 26000 - what happens next...Lewis Larsen
Dow-Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has just gone above 26,000 for first time ever. What happens next? Boom or bust?
Short pithy answer: “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet”; quoted from Barron’s article published in February 1988
Slightly longer answer: We are presently in an era of low-inflation economic growth and explosion of new technologies. Therefore, a continued global financial and economic boom subject to episodic, healthy market price corrections is much more likely to occur than a fearsome bust like the near-collapse of U.S. financial markets in 2008 and subsequent Great Recession from which world financial markets and many national economies are just beginning to fully recover. Herein we present key reasons why this bullish scenario should transpire as events unfold.
Lattice Energy LLC - Polar vortex cold wave in USA has potential for lower te...Lewis Larsen
Today, the United States is gripped in jaws of a Polar Vortex extreme cold weather event in Midwest and Northeast. On December 27, 2017 the nighttime low temperature in Duluth, Minnesota hit bone-chilling 41 degrees below zero F. This severe cold snap is predicted to persist through January 5 – 7, 2018. How will wind & solar renewable energy sources and commercial natural gas pipelines perform during this latest Polar Vortex event in U.S.? It will be interesting to see what happens between today and mid-January 2018.
Lattice Energy LLC - Fossil fuels and nuclear vs renewables for powering elec...Lewis Larsen
Enormous potential future value for diversified portfolios of renewable, fossil-fueled, and nuclear power generation --- enable grids to have resilience against extreme weather events related to climate change and “Black Swan” volcanic eruptions.
Proverb: “In the first place … an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin (1735). Fukushima lessons: mitigate improbable extreme events if not too expensive; $200 million was thought too costly to fix backup generators in 2006 but the ‘cure’ for the 2011 nuclear disaster now costs $189 billion and could take 30 - 40 years.
What may appear ‘greener’ and less $$$ in myopic short-term decision-making about grids could end-up being extremely $$$ expensive or catastrophic in longer-term. Data suggests that is it too risky for society to put all its energy “eggs” into a single renewable basket. Lattice therefore believes balanced diversity of different types of grid power sources is best strategy for insuring 99+% future reliability and excellent resiliency of electricity grids facing onslaughts of extreme weather events and low but non-zero probability for catastrophic Black Swan volcanic eruptions.
Since high % of renewable energy sources on electricity grids is a new phenomenon and unexplored territory, there aren’t preexisting road maps to guide government regulation and critical implementation by industry. Private sector companies by nature are concerned with short-term bottom line profitability and have more narrowly focused interests; by contrast, government is responsible for insuring national energy security over much longer time-frames and broader range of grid-threatening events.
Rick Perry/DOE’s controversial NOPR to FERC in September created an important opportunity for U.S. government and industry to begin productive dialogue about how to enhance the U.S. electricity grid’s ability to maintain present reliability and adapt to climate change.
Le nuove frontiere dell'AI nell'RPA con UiPath Autopilot™UiPathCommunity
In questo evento online gratuito, organizzato dalla Community Italiana di UiPath, potrai esplorare le nuove funzionalità di Autopilot, il tool che integra l'Intelligenza Artificiale nei processi di sviluppo e utilizzo delle Automazioni.
📕 Vedremo insieme alcuni esempi dell'utilizzo di Autopilot in diversi tool della Suite UiPath:
Autopilot per Studio Web
Autopilot per Studio
Autopilot per Apps
Clipboard AI
GenAI applicata alla Document Understanding
👨🏫👨💻 Speakers:
Stefano Negro, UiPath MVPx3, RPA Tech Lead @ BSP Consultant
Flavio Martinelli, UiPath MVP 2023, Technical Account Manager @UiPath
Andrei Tasca, RPA Solutions Team Lead @NTT Data
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Welocme to ViralQR, your best QR code generator.ViralQR
Welcome to ViralQR, your best QR code generator available on the market!
At ViralQR, we design static and dynamic QR codes. Our mission is to make business operations easier and customer engagement more powerful through the use of QR technology. Be it a small-scale business or a huge enterprise, our easy-to-use platform provides multiple choices that can be tailored according to your company's branding and marketing strategies.
Our Vision
We are here to make the process of creating QR codes easy and smooth, thus enhancing customer interaction and making business more fluid. We very strongly believe in the ability of QR codes to change the world for businesses in their interaction with customers and are set on making that technology accessible and usable far and wide.
Our Achievements
Ever since its inception, we have successfully served many clients by offering QR codes in their marketing, service delivery, and collection of feedback across various industries. Our platform has been recognized for its ease of use and amazing features, which helped a business to make QR codes.
Our Services
At ViralQR, here is a comprehensive suite of services that caters to your very needs:
Static QR Codes: Create free static QR codes. These QR codes are able to store significant information such as URLs, vCards, plain text, emails and SMS, Wi-Fi credentials, and Bitcoin addresses.
Dynamic QR codes: These also have all the advanced features but are subscription-based. They can directly link to PDF files, images, micro-landing pages, social accounts, review forms, business pages, and applications. In addition, they can be branded with CTAs, frames, patterns, colors, and logos to enhance your branding.
Pricing and Packages
Additionally, there is a 14-day free offer to ViralQR, which is an exceptional opportunity for new users to take a feel of this platform. One can easily subscribe from there and experience the full dynamic of using QR codes. The subscription plans are not only meant for business; they are priced very flexibly so that literally every business could afford to benefit from our service.
Why choose us?
ViralQR will provide services for marketing, advertising, catering, retail, and the like. The QR codes can be posted on fliers, packaging, merchandise, and banners, as well as to substitute for cash and cards in a restaurant or coffee shop. With QR codes integrated into your business, improve customer engagement and streamline operations.
Comprehensive Analytics
Subscribers of ViralQR receive detailed analytics and tracking tools in light of having a view of the core values of QR code performance. Our analytics dashboard shows aggregate views and unique views, as well as detailed information about each impression, including time, device, browser, and estimated location by city and country.
So, thank you for choosing ViralQR; we have an offer of nothing but the best in terms of QR code services to meet business diversity!
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Leading Change strategies and insights for effective change management pdf 1.pdf
Lattice Energy LLC- Technical Discussion-Oct 1 Tesla Motors Model S Battery Thermal Runaway-October 16 2013
1. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S battery had thermal runaway
What really caused the fiery October 1, 2013 incident?
Tesla’s theory: event caused by metallic debris on road impaling battery
Theory has some issues: could it instead have been an internal field-failure?
Lewis Larsen
October 1, 2013 - Kent, WA USA
Scene before arrival of firefighters
President and CEO
Lattice Energy LLC
October 16, 2013
October 1, 2013 - Kent, WA USA
Scene after arrival of firefighters
“Grow your tree of
falsehood from a single
grain of truth.”
Czeslaw Milosz - poem 1946
Tesla Motors Model S in flames
Contact: 1-312-861-0115
lewisglarsen@gmail.com
Fire now partially extinguished
http://www.slideshare.net/lewisglarsen
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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2. Lattice Energy LLC
Contents
Key take-aways ………………………….…..……………………………………………..…….. 3 - 6
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems ……………………….……..… 7 - 17
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway…………………….....……… 18 - 30
Oct. 4, 2013: Tesla released its theory of Model S battery runaway …………………… 31 - 35
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?……………………………... 36 - 49
Is Tesla’s theory consistent with runaway event timeline? ……………………....…… 50 - 64
Wrap-up discussion ……………………………………………………………………………. 65 - 67
Additional information for the more technically inclined …………….…………………. 68 - 69
Appendix 1: Runaways and field failures --- batteries behaving really badly ……….. 70 - 81
Final quotation: Alexis de Tocqueville (1840) ………………………….…………….…..… 82
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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3. Lattice Energy LLC
Key takeaways
October 1, 2013 - Kent, WA USA
Scene just as firefighters arrived
Credit: video post on Jalopnik
Tesla Motors Model S in flames
In Oct. 3, 2013 e-mail that Tesla released,
owner/driver Robert Carlson referred to
these flames as a “controlled burn” that
“Internet images really exaggerates.”
Lattice comment:
If this mini-inferno is truly
“controlled” then we are astounded.
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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4. Lattice Energy LLC
Key takeaways
Simplified timeline of selected events
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Motors Model S experienced battery thermal runaway and large fire involving at
least one of the battery pack’s modules; incident occurred in Kent, WA USA
Oct. 2, 2013: Jalopnik published first story about the fiery runaway and posted amateur video clip
showing the car burning with 6’ flames just before Kent firemen arrived on scene
Oct. 3, 2013: Associated Press reporter Mike Baker published an AP wire story about Tesla fire
Oct. 3, 2013: Later that day, AP reporters Mike Baker and Tom Krisher published follow-up story in
which Tesla finally admitted that the large fire had begun in Model S battery pack
Oct. 3, 2013: At 1:00 PM, Forbes staff writer Hannah Elliott published an online story based on an
interview with Tesla spokesperson, Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, who also stated that
Elon Musk would not be commenting publicly on the Tesla battery fire; while factchecking for her story, Elliott was still unable to independently verify existence of:
(1) “large metallic object” lying on road surface that Tesla claimed was run-over by
driver and rotated upward, pierced the Model S battery pack, and triggered battery
runaway and fire; and (2) WA DOT road crew that supposedly recovered the object
Oct. 4, 2013: Tesla CEO Elon Musk finally responded to press stories about Model S battery fire in
a company blog post; outlined Tesla’s battery impalement theory which they claim
provides an explanation for mechanism that triggered the thermal runaway and fire
Oct. 16, 2013: As of today, existence of “large metallic object” and “road crew” have not been
confirmed by any third parties; still many unanswered questions about the incident
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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5. Lattice Energy LLC
Key takeaways
On October 1, 2013, in Kent, WA USA while traveling down a 4-lane state highway during
morning rush-hour, a Tesla Model S sedan experienced a battery thermal runaway and
ensuing fire with 6-foot high flames that destroyed the front hood area of the vehicle
To explain why its much-heralded battery safety systems were unable to prevent the
occurrence of a potentially dangerous battery thermal runaway and fire that disabled and
destroyed key parts of a full-sized vehicle within a span of several minutes, Tesla proposed
a theory for the event. It explains the runaway as having been caused by the car’s driver
accidentally running over piece of road debris - “large metallic object” - that had been lying
on the highway surface. In Tesla’s theory, this hypothetical metal object somehow rotated
upwards, slammed into the car’s armored underbody with 25 tons of force, and then pierced
a module in the car’s battery pack, which triggered a thermal runaway and fire
To date, Tesla has not provided any detailed explanation as to exactly how they estimated the
object piercing force on battery pack’s “armor plate” to be ~25 tons. Our investigation and
calculations suggest that a 25 ton force would not likely pierce any truly armor-grade metals;
on the other hand, if Model S’ so-called “armor plate” is really composed of some type of soft
metal or composite material, 25 tons would be sufficient energy for successful penetration
Experimental data concerning 18650 nail penetration and crush tests shows that if violent
thermal runaways occur in such situations, they frequently start within less than a second or
two. That clearly was not the case in the October 1 incident, which had a surprisingly long
event timeline that spanned at least 2 - 3 minutes, which happily enabled the driver to exit a
potentially bad situation safely without injury. This lengthier timeline is not consistent with
prior 18650 piercing/crush data or with massive instant damage posited in Tesla’s theory
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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6. Lattice Energy LLC
Key takeaways
Lattice’s alternative theory for the October 1 model S runaway posits that: field-failure internal
electrical short (whatever its proximate cause might truly be) occurred in a single 18650 cell
that was located somewhere in first front module of vehicle’s battery pack. This field-failuretriggered event caused catastrophic overheating of the affected cell, creating huge local
temperature increase within a few seconds that wreaked havoc within the immediate module
A small explosion could have occurred inside front battery module without breaching the
armored pack; an unsuspecting, very surprised driver could have very easily misinterpreted a
‘whomph’ he would have felt with his body as an indication that the vehicle had run over some
sort of object lying on the road (while admittedly speculative, this idea is plausible in view of
fact that existence of claimed “large metallic object” has not yet been substantiated by Tesla)
Importantly, propagation of field-failure-induced super-hot runaway conditions into adjacent
cells (“thermal fratricide”) within same battery pack module was slowed rather significantly by
Tesla’s multi-tier, very sophisticated battery safety system engineering discussed herein. The
consequent retardation of thermal propagation between cells by safety features built into the
battery pack lengthened the runaway event timeline by > 2 - 3 minutes, which was observed
In this incident, Lattice believes a Model S battery pack encountered something very different
from “garden variety” thermal runaways (see Appendix 1 for definitions and details) that Tesla’s
otherwise brilliant system safety engineering was designed to thwart. What occurred on Oct. 1
was very likely a much rarer, deadlier type of thermal runaway called a ‘field-failure” (again, see
Appendix 1). What distinguishes field-failures from ‘ordinary’ thermal runaways are vastly
higher peak temperatures in conjunction with electric arc discharges; best that can be hopedfor under such circumstances is that a battery fails ‘gracefully’ without detonating, as on Oct. 1
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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8. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Basic functional organization of key system components
Note: original Tesla images have been adapted by Lattice
Body
Image source: Tesla Motors
Electric motor
Two sets of
wheels, axles,
and suspensions
High voltage
Lithium-ion
battery pack
Image source: Tesla Motors
Electric motor seen from behind
Image credit: GT Carlot
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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9. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Battery pack integrates/controls up to ~7,000 Panasonic Li-based cells
Panasonic NCR18650A 3100mAh
Lithium-based 18650 battery cells
Standard size: dia. 18.6 mm; length 65.2 mm
Image source: Panasonic
Model S battery pack uses 18650As with
NCA chemistry; that is, a Lithium nickel
cobalt aluminum (NCA or chemically =
LiNiCoAlO2) cathode chemistry developed
by Panasonic. The ~7,000 such batteries
contained in a Model S pack contain
specialized formulation of NCA and other
unique characteristics that have been
specifically optimized for EV applications
(creating a so-called “automotive grade”
18650A cell). Please note this is not
exactly the same as commodity 18650
battery cells that Panasonic manufactures
and sells for the consumer retail market
Panasonic NCR18650A NCA 18650
battery cells in demo sub-module
~3”
Image source: Tesla Motors
Tesla employee grasping a Model A battery pack
High-level conceptual system schematic
Image source: Tesla Motors
Battery pack is a high voltage system
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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10. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Battery pack integrates/controls up to ~7,000 Panasonic Li-based cells
NHTSA opened-up interior of 60 kWh Model S battery during routine testing
Close-packed 18650 batteries are oriented vertically within 14 individual modules
Image shows upper surface of battery pack
Half of battery pack now exposed: shows 7 modules
Top view
Top view
Image source: NHTSA
Image source: NHTSA
Note: 85 kWh Model S battery pack differs: has 8 modules per side for total of 16
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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11. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Management system controls, monitors and optimizes battery operation
“The Tesla Roadster battery system”
Lattice comments:
Tesla Motors, August 16, 2006
G. Berdichevsky, K. Kelty, J.B. Straubel, and E. Toomre
Battery management system
“Multiple microprocessors within the ESS communicate via a CAN Bus, a
robust automotive communication protocol. During normal vehicle
operation and storage, the battery logic board communicates with the
vehicle to initiate battery cooling, report state of charge, and
signal battery faults. A fundamental element of the vehicle and battery
pack safety design is the ability to electrically disconnect the high
voltage of the pack from the rest of the car (by controlling two high
voltage contactors) if any of number of adverse conditions are detected.”
“Microprocessors, logic circuitry and sensors are continually monitoring
voltages, currents and temperatures within the pack. These sensors also
monitor inertia acceleration (e.g. to detect a crash) and vehicle
orientation to the ground (e.g. to detect a rollover). Our battery packs
also include smoke, humidity, and moisture sensors. If certain sensors
exceed the specified range, then the high voltage contactors will
immediately (within milliseconds) disconnect the high voltage of the
battery pack from the car. In fact, the contactors are only closed
(connected) when commanded and energized to do so. Without the
proper commands these contactors will open.”
(BMS) on Model S is further
improved version of earlier
BMS used on Tesla Roadsters
Model S has integrated GPS;
its BMS also has integrated
two-way wireless data
telemetry capabilities for key
diagnostics, monitoring, and
control parameters, as well as
two-way Internet connectivity
When it wishes, Tesla Motors
has capability to remotely
monitor location and key
operating parameters of any of
its vehicles that are traveling
through areas with wireless
communications services
Source URL: http://large.stanford.edu/publications/coal/references/docs/tesla.pdf
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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12. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Block diagram of functionality: generic EV battery management system
Wireless data telemetry and
connectivity to Internet
Source URL: http://www.ddqcw.com/bbs/thread-76249-1-1.html
October 16. 2013
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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13. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Spatial locations: battery pack (orange color) and 12V lead-acid battery
Note: original Tesla images have been adapted by Lattice
Rear
Front
High voltage battery pack – front leading edge
Image source: Tesla Motors
Electric motor
October 16. 2013
12V battery
Lattice Energy LLC, Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
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14. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Note: original Tesla
images have been
adapted by Lattice
Rear
Front
Front
Battery pack is tightly integrated with car’s major structural components
Electric motor
Image source: Tesla Motors
Front radiator
includes heat
exchanger for
battery pack’s
cooling system
Rear
Multi-module
Lithium-ion battery
pack integrated
with frame/chassis
Front
Image source: Tesla Motors
October 16. 2013
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14
15. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Company’s safety training video shows smooth underbody of vehicle
Source URL for online training video:
http://boronextrication.com/2013/03/teslaev-safety-extrication-training-video/
Very smooth, turbulence-free underbody
makes significant contribution to car’s
very low drag coefficient (Cd) of ~0.24
Running time ~37 minutes
Battery pack begins right here
Rear
Front
Battery pack ends here
Video was produced to help
first responders at EV road
accidents, especially the
firefighters, to be aware of
key issues with EV electrical
systems that are not found
on IC engine cars: e.g., highvoltage components and
wiring; safely disconnecting
the battery subsystem;
locations where structural
cuts can be made safely; etc.
Note the relatively smooth
surface of car’s underbody
Integrated “armor plate”
protects entire battery pack
from impacts originating
from underneath the vehicle
Vehicle upended here is a
new Tesla Motors Model S
October 16. 2013
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16. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Company can collect remote telemetry data on systems in near-real-time
Lattice comments:
Earlier in 2013, Tesla criticized results of a Model S
media test drive that were claimed and reported by
journalist John Broder in a New York Times article
Used wireless vehicle telemetry data as evidence
to dispute Mr. Broder’s claimed test drive results
Quoting excerpts directly from Mr. Musk’s post:
“After a negative experience several years ago with Top
Gear, a popular automotive show, where they pretended
that our car ran out of energy and had to be pushed
back to the garage, we always carefully data log media
drives. While the vast majority of journalists are honest,
some believe the facts shouldn’t get in the way of a
salacious story. In the case of Top Gear, they had
literally written the script before they even received the
car (we happened to find a copy of the script on a table
while the car was being ‘tested’). Our car never even
had a chance … The logs show again that our Model S
never had a chance with John Broder …”
Example of remote telemetry data used against
Broder; caption in Musk’s post read, “Vehicle Logs for
Media Drive by John Broder on January 23 and 24”
Source URL: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive
October 16. 2013
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17. Lattice Energy LLC
Tesla Motors Model S: Overview of vehicle and systems
Description: Android smartphone app interacts with car’s onboard systems
The Tesla Model S Beta app puts Model S owners in direct communication
with their cars anytime, anywhere. With this app, owners can:
- Check charging progress in real time and start or stop charge
- Heat or cool Model S before driving - even if it's in a garage
- Locate Model S with directions or track its movement across a map
- Flash lights or honk the horn to find Model S when parked
- Vent or close the panoramic roof
- Lock or unlock from afar
Known issues with the Tesla Model S Beta app include occasional UI glitches.
Source URL = https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslamotors.tesla&hl=en
October 16. 2013
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19. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Incident occurred in Kent, WA after exiting 4-lane state highway #167
Source URL: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tesla-stock-tumbles-model-catches-fire-20450475
Continuing quote: Webb said there was
too much damage from the fire to see
what damage the debris may have
caused.
Quoting directly: The incident happened Tuesday after 8 a.m.
as the driver was traveling southbound on state Route 167
through Kent, said Trooper Chris Webb of the Washington
State Patrol. The driver stated that he believed he had struck
some metal debris on the freeway, so he exited the highway
and the vehicle became disabled.
The driver told authorities he began to smell something
burning and then the vehicle caught fire. Firefighters needed
several attempts to extinguish the flames because the blaze
kept reigniting, Webb said. A trooper who responded to the
scene was unable to locate any objects on the roadway, but
Department of Transportation workers did observe some
debris near the scene.
October 16. 2013
The automobile site Jalopnik.com posted
photos of the blaze that it says were
taken by a reader, along with a video. The
video shows the front of the Tesla Model
S in flames.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Tesla
said the fire was caused by "substantial
damage" to the car when the driver hit a
large metal object in the road. The
flames, the company said, were
contained to the front of the $70,000
vehicle due to its design and
construction.
"All indications are that the fire never
entered the interior cabin of the car. It
was extinguished on-site by the Fire
Department," the statement said.
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20. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Flames are already ~6 feet high; firefighters are just arriving on scene
Image below: freeze-frame from amateur video of incident shows
entire front-end of Tesla Model S completely engulfed in flames
Toe of fireman’s boot
Incident video source URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q0kjI08n4fg
October 16. 2013
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21. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Firefighters have now cut into the hood area; still trying to control fire
Source URL: http://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-fiery-tesla-model-s-death-looks-like-1440143525
Incident video source URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q0kjI08n4fg
October 16. 2013
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22. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Update of AP story which ran earlier that day
Source URL: http://www.king5.com/news/local/Tesla-stock-tumbles-after-Model-S-catches-fire-near-Seattle-226207191.html
Quoting: The incident happened Tuesday after 8
a.m. as the driver was traveling southbound on
state Route 167 through Kent, said Trooper
Chris Webb of the Washington State Patrol. The
driver stated that he believed he had struck
some metal debris on the freeway, so he exited
the highway and the vehicle became disabled.
The driver told authorities he began to smell
something burning and then the vehicle caught
fire. Firefighters needed several attempts to
extinguish the flames because the blaze kept
reigniting, Webb said. A trooper who responded
to the scene was unable to locate any objects on
the roadway, but Department of Transportation
workers did observe some debris near the
scene.
by MIKE BAKER / Associated Press
Posted on October 2, 2013 at 2:52 PM
Updated today at 4:19 PM
SEATTLE - Shares of electric car company Tesla sank more than
6 percent Wednesday after an Internet video showed flames
spewing from one of the company's vehicles near Seattle.
October 16. 2013
Webb said there was too much damage from the
fire to see what damage the debris may have
caused.
The automobile site Jalopnik.com posted photos
of the blaze that it says were taken by a reader,
along with a video. The video shows the front of
the Tesla Model S in flames.
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23. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Oct. 2 @ 7:40 PM EDT: International Business Times excerpts fire report
Excerpts from accident report by Regional Fire Authority of Kent, Washington USA
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/tesla-model-s-driver-hits-object-hov-lane-near-kent-washington-car-smokes-catches-fire-lithium
October 16. 2013
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24. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Google maps image on 167 southbound exit ramp in Kent, WA USA
October 16. 2013
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25. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Higher-resolution Google image of 167 down ramp: X marks location
This road turns into Willis
several blocks East of here
October 16. 2013
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26. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Google Earth view of corner where Model S runaway car burned
Screen-shot image 21 seconds into
amateur video of Oct. 1, 2013 Tesla
Model S thermal runaway
October 16. 2013
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27. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Oct. 3: Tesla finally admits that EV’s battery was involved in fire
Source URL: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tesla-stock-tumbles-model-catches-fire-20450475
Continuing quote: The driver, who did not
return a phone call seeking comment, told
authorities he began to smell something
burning and then the vehicle caught fire.
Firefighters arrived within 3 minutes of the
first call. It's not clear from records how long
the firefighting lasted, but crews remained on
scene for 2 1/2 hours.
Quoting directly: In an incident report released under Washington
state's public records law, firefighters wrote that they appeared to
have Tuesday's fire under control, but the flames reignited. Crews
found that water seemed to intensify the fire, so they began using a
dry chemical extinguisher.
After dismantling the front end of the vehicle and puncturing holes
in the battery pack, responders used a circular saw to cut an access
hole in the front section to apply water to the battery, according to
documents. Only then was the fire extinguished.
The incident happened as the Tesla's driver was traveling
southbound on state Route 167 through the Seattle suburb of Kent,
said Trooper Chris Webb of the Washington State Patrol. The driver
said he believed he had struck some metal debris on the freeway, so
he exited the highway and the vehicle became disabled.
October 16. 2013
Tesla said the flames were contained to the
front of the $70,000 vehicle due to its design
and construction.
"This was not a spontaneous event," JarvisShean said. "Every indication we have at this
point is that the fire was a result of the
collision and the damage sustained through
that."
There was too much damage from the fire to
see what damage debris may have caused,
Webb said.
The automobile website Jalopnik.com posted
photos of the blaze that it says were taken by
a reader, along with a video.
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28. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Oct. 3: Forbes still can’t verify existence of metallic object or road crew
Source URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2013/10/03/the-tesla-fire-is-atextbook-pr-problem-and-they-should-fix-it/
Quoting directly from Forbes:
Tesla has been mostly quiet on
this front, releasing only this
official response to the press:
“The fire was caused by the
direct impact of a large metallic
object to one of the 16 modules
within the Model S battery
pack. Because each module
within the battery pack is, by
design, isolated by fire barriers
to limit any potential damage,
the fire in the battery pack was
contained to a small section in
the front of the vehicle.”
October 16. 2013
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29. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Oct. 3: Forbes still can’t verify existence of metallic object or road crew
Source URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2013/10/03/the-tesla-fire-is-a-textbook-pr-problem-and-they-should-fix-it/
Further quoting directly from Forbes:
Earlier today I spoke with Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Tesla’s director of global
communications, and while she described the mechanics of the accident to me
(again, the official word is that the driver hit something big that punctured the
battery pack and caused the fire, which was contained by Tesla technology) she
was unable to answer some key questions I had.
Namely: What was the object? How was something so big able to apparently
disappear from the site of the alleged crash? What recourse does the driver have
under his ownership contract in terms of replacing his vehicle? Will Tesla replace
it or refund him the $50,000-plus he paid for it?
These were the answers I got to those and similar questions: “I can’t really speak
to that.” “I can’t comment.” “I don’t know at this point.”
October 16. 2013
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30. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 1, 2013: Tesla Model S had battery thermal runaway
Oct. 3: Forbes still can’t verify existence of metallic object or road crew
Source URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2013/10/03/the-tesla-fire-is-a-textbook-pr-problem-and-they-should-fix-it/
Further quoting directly from Forbes:
Tesla founder Elon Musk would not be commenting directly on the fire, she said.
This to me seems like an error. Wouldn’t it be smarter in the long run to be
actively up-front with the public and with journalists about just how exactly the
company plans to respond to negative media coverage?
Wouldn’t it be better to say, “We are doing this, this and this” to fix the problem
and calm anxiety about the cars?
It has been a full day and a half since the accident – enough time to come up
with more than two sentences emailed to journalists.
October 16. 2013
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32. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 4: Tesla released its theory of Model S battery runaway
Two e-mails were published in Tesla’s blog along with Mr. Musk’s post;
in an e-mail sent to the owner of the damaged Model S, Mr. Jerome
Guillen, VP of Sales and Service for Tesla, further elaborated on Tesla’s
explanatory theory about the battery runaway as follows:
“All indications are that your Model S drove over large, oddly-shaped
metal object which impacted the leading edge of the vehicle's
undercarriage and rotated into the underside of the vehicle (‘pole vault’
effect). This is a highly uncommon occurrence.”
Continuing Mr. Guillen’s remarks:
Screen-capture image - first paragraph in his Oct. 4 blog post:
In this post, Mr. Musk further added that, “ … our battery pack is
… divided into 16 modules with firewalls in between.”
“Based on our review thus far,
we believe that the Model S
performed as designed by
limiting the resulting fire to the
affected zones only. Given the
significant intensity of the
impact, which managed to pierce
the 1/4 inch bottom plate
(something that is extremely hard
to do), the Model S energy
containment functions operated
correctly. In particular, the top
cover of the battery provided a
strong barrier and there was no
apparent propagation of the fire
into the cabin. This ensured
cabin integrity and occupant
safety, which remains our most
important goal.”
Source: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-fire
October 16. 2013
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33. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 4: Tesla released its theory of Model S battery runaway
Published copies of Oct. 3 e-mails with Robert Carlson to support theory
Note: in above e-mail, Robert Carlson,
owner of the runaway Model S, revealed:
“I am also an investor [in Tesla] and…”
Source: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-fire
October 16. 2013
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34. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 4: Tesla released its theory of Model S battery runaway
Graphical summary: metallic object’s hypothesized point-of-impact
Battery pack begins right here
Rear
Front
Tesla’s theory of event posits that a “large
metallic object” struck the leading front edge of
battery pack, damaging the first module in the
very front; impact occurred somewhere in the
area delineated by orange rectangular boxes
Note: original Tesla
images have been
adapted by Lattice
Battery pack ends right here
3” dia. “large metallic object” would
have pierced multiple 18650A battery
cells and shorted electrical wiring locally
Rear
Modular Lithiumion battery pack
integrated with
frame/chassis
Image source: Tesla Motors
October 16. 2013
Front
Image source: Tesla Motors
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35. Lattice Energy LLC
Oct. 4: Tesla released its theory of Model S battery runaway
Summary of key points in their explanation of what caused the event
According to an account provided by driver of the Model S: at highway speed the vehicle
accidentally ran-over a piece of debris (“large metallic object”) that had been lying on the
state roadway #167 surface; problems with car operation began shortly thereafter
Tesla then hypothesized that purported “large metallic object” had perhaps fallen-off some
kind of truck; further claimed that WA “DOT road crew” had supposedly found and
“recovered” a piece of debris at some point in time after the runaway incident that
supposed “DOT road crew” believed to be the culprit object that caused battery fire
Tesla theorized that as this debris was being run-over, the purported “large metallic object”
rotated through an arc (“pole vault effect”) and punched a “3 inch hole” through a “¼ inch
thick armor plate” that protects the car’s entire battery pack from possibly damaging
impacts coming from direction of road surface underneath vehicle
Tesla further theorized that it was this violent piercing of a metallic object into the first
module (out of a total of 16) located at the front leading edge of the battery pack that was
the proximate cause for the ensuing battery thermal runaway and blazing vehicle fire; Tesla
then estimated it would take a force of “25 tons” to punch-through “armor”
Tesla claimed runaway conflagration was limited and confined to first (fatally pierced)
module in the battery pack as a result of Tesla’s unique safety engineering features
October 16. 2013
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37. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Process is analogous to use of punches and dies in metalworking
“Large metallic object” is punch; “armor plate” = sheet stock being punched
Nothing precisely equivalent to a rigid supporting die present in Tesla battery pack
Course:
ISE 316 - Manufacturing Processes Engineering
Note: nothing precisely equivalent to a rigid
supporting die is present in Tesla battery pack.
So as “large metallic object” (= punch) is piercing
the protective “armor plate” (= “sheet stock” in
Figure to right) it will experience elastic bending
‘give’ prior to punch-through because Tesla’s
“armor plate” is probably ductile, flexible metal.
In practical terms, this means that the amount of
real-world force that would be required to punch
a ~3” diameter hole through the Tesla battery
pack’s “armor plate” is likely to be larger than
what we calculate with pure shear-force formulas
used herein. Our estimated force thus probably
conservative; perhaps lower by as much as ~20%
Force
Fig. 20.6 is
adapted
Large
metallic
object
Armor plate
Interior
of Tesla
battery
pack
3” dia. ‘bullet’ piece
of “armor plate” shot
into Tesla battery
Source (download MS-PowerPoint of Chapter 20 in ISE 316 – Fig. 20.6: http://tinyurl.com/kreyhw9
October 16. 2013
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38. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Source URL = http://www.wisc-online.com/
Quoting: “Wisc-Online is a digital library of Web-based learning resources called ‘learning objects’.
The digital library of objects has been developed primarily by faculty from the Wisconsin Technical
College System (WTCS) and produced by multimedia technicians whom create the learning objects.”
Have developed a useful learning module titled, “Calculating force for punching”
October 16. 2013
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39. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force = F from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Terminology: the term
“shear strength”
means ~ same thing as
‘tensile strength”
Source URL = http://www.wisc-online.com/Objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=FAB1302
October 16. 2013
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39
40. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force = F from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Tesla did not specify composition of ¼” thick “armor plate” that was pierced
Was “armor” composed of some type of steel or perhaps aluminum alloys?
Besides dimensions d and t, calculated force strongly depends on tensile strength
d = diameter of punched hole in inches
Terminology: the
term “shear
strength” means
the same thing as
‘tensile strength”
t = thickness of metallic sheet being
punched-through measured in inches
σ = shear = tensile strength expressed
in pounds per square inch (psi)
π
d
t
σ
σ of punched material
Assumptions:
relying, on Tesla’s
public statements,
we will simply
assume that hole
punched though
car’s “armor plate”
by the “large
metallic object” was
roughly circular
and ~3” in diameter
Force (tons)
Source URL = http://www.wisc-online.com/Objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=FAB1302
October 16. 2013
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41. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Assume that Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate composed of ferritic stainless steel
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 70.1 tons
d = 3.0”
t = 0.25”
σ=
60,000 (psi)
Armor plate material assumed to be
ferritic stainless steel which is a
strong, very corrosion-resistant metal
3.0
0.25
60,000
70.1
October 16. 2013
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41
42. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Now assume that Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate composed of soft Aluminum
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 12.4 tons
d = 3.0” t = 0.25”
σ=
10,500 (psi)
Armor plate material unrealistically
assumed to be just soft Aluminum
that is light and corrosion-resistant
3.0
0.25
10,500
12.4
October 16. 2013
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42
43. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Now assume Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate is composed of stronger Aluminum
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 37.7 tons
d = 3.0” t = 0.25”
σ=
32,000 (psi)
Armor plate material realistically
assumed to be 6061-T6 Aluminum
that is harder and corrosion-resistant
3.0
0.25
32,000
37.7
October 16. 2013
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43
44. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Let’s examine a real-world commercial version of stronger Aluminum 6061-T6
Source: http://asm.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=MA6061t6
October 16. 2013
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45. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Now assume that Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate is composed of ASM Aluminum
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 47.1 tons
d = 3.0”
t = 0.25”
σ=
40,000 (psi)
Armor plate material more realistically
assumed ASM 6061-T6 Aluminum that
is stronger and corrosion-resistant
3.0
0.25
Assumption: Tesla’ s
“armor plate” is
instead composed of
higher- strength ASM
Aerospace 6061-T6
Aluminum sheets
40,000
47.1
October 16. 2013
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46. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Now assume that Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate is composed of medium steel
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 82.5 tons
d = 3.0” t = 0.25” σ = 70,000 (psi)
Armor plate material now is assumed
medium-strength steel; stronger but
less corrosion-resistant vs. Aluminum
3.0
0.25
70,000
82.5
October 16. 2013
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46
47. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Let’s examine ATI Defense commercial version of steel used in military armor
Source: http://www.atimetals.com/Documents/ati_500-mil_tds_en.pdf
October 16. 2013
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48. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) has online resources
Can calculate required force from Tesla’s data using a standard formula
Now assume Tesla’s ¼” thick armor plate is composed of military-grade steel
Result: calculated force necessary to pierce armor = 176.8 tons
d = 3.0” t = 0.25”
σ=
150,000 (psi)
Armor plate material now assumed to
be super-strength steel specifically
developed for military applications
3.0
0.25
Assumption: Tesla’ s
“armor plate” is
instead composed of
super- strength ATI
Defense ATI-500-MIL
150,000
176.8
October 16. 2013
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49. Lattice Energy LLC
Will theorized 25 ton impact force pierce battery’s armor?
Results and conclusions
Unless composed of soft metal, 25 ton force will not pierce real armor plate
To date, Tesla has not provided a detailed explanation as to exactly how they
estimated the piercing force on battery pack’s “armor plate” to be ~25 tons
Except in case of soft aluminum (12.4 tons) and based on our assumptions,
calculated force required to pierce Tesla’s “armor plate” ranged from 37.7 up
to 176.8 tons for assortment of stronger Aluminum alloys and various steels
While unspecified by Tesla, it is possible that their so-called “armor plate”
protecting Model S battery pack from impacts arising from below car is
really composed of some sort of light metallic/plastic composite material
that has a tensile strength of ~21,000 psi (calculated by solving formula
backwards). If this speculation happened to be correct, it would seem to be
somewhat of a misnomer for Tesla to publicly characterize such a material
as being an “armor plate” in the rigorous metallurgical sense of the term
If in fact a “large metallic object” pierced battery pack’s “armor plate” with
great force, would likely have shot 3” ‘bullet’ of metal deep into first module
October 16. 2013
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51. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
How much time passed from very first hint of trouble to a blazing fire?
Our analysis suggests probable elapsed time of at least 2 - 3 minutes
When firefighters first arrived at the scene, driver had already exited the disabled vehicle and
the front hood area of the Tesla Model S was completely engulfed in blazing flames that were
swirling to a height of ~6 feet (determined by examining the amateur video clip of incident
that was posted on Jalopnik)
Kent, WA fire department stated to AP reporters that they arrived at the location of the
burning car within 3 minutes of receiving the very first 911 call about the incident;
firefighters remained present at the scene for at least 2.5 hours (ref.: Baker & Krisher,
Associated Press, Oct. 3, 2013)
Distance from previous exit on Southbound #167 to exit where Model S driver actually left
the 4-lane highway is ~1.6 miles; the exit ramp distance to the spot where the car finally
stopped and began burning is ~0.2 miles for a total likely maximum distance traveled of ~1.8
miles (assuming object was hit and first sign of trouble occurred just past prior exit)
According to WA DOT report “SR 167 - HOT Lanes Pilot Project” (Sept. 2011), average rushhour vehicle speeds in HOT lanes (= HOV in Kent fire dept. report) in which Tesla car was
traveling when incident began are ~59 mph (0.983 miles/minute); assuming car traveled at
that speed to final stopping point suggests a minimum elapsed time of > 1.8 min
All considered, it appears at least ~2 - 3 minutes passed from first hint of trouble to time
when large flames became readily visible to other motorists (several of whom called 911)
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Posits substantial ~instantaneous mechanical damage to battery module
Impalement would have instantly destroyed at least four 18650 battery cells
Tesla Model A 85 kWh battery pack contains ~7,000 Panasonic 18650 cells distributed across
16 isolatable modules; assuming distribution is uniform, this implies ~438 cells per module
If a hypothetical large, presumably conductive
metallic object 3” in diameter had struck
perfectly perpendicular to Tesla Model A’s “armor plate” and then punched a hole into the first
module located at the front edge of the battery pack, it would have instantly physically
destroyed and shorted-out roughly four 18650 battery cells, just from simple geometric
considerations. If the object and piece of the armor ‘bullet’ traveled further into module on a
pathway that ran at an oblique angle, many more cells could potentially have been destroyed
along with their current-carrying wiring connections to rest of the vehicle’s battery pack
Tesla’s battery management system’s (BMS) fine-grained sensor and communication networks
would have become aware of this situation almost instantly when large voltage, current, and
excess temperature anomalies would have suddenly begun appearing in data from multiple
18650 cells associated with the first module in the Model A’s battery pack
At that point, BMS would most likely have been programmed by Tesla to --- at the very least --send some sort of a ‘battery malfunction’ warning notice to car’s driver, which is apparently
what happened according the car's owner. In addition, it is entirely possible if not highly
probable that car’s system was programmed to immediately send pertinent telemetry data to
Tesla’s vehicle operations center. It is also conceivable that Tesla routinely collects data from
all of its cars in ~real-time, just as Boeing does on its customers’ fleets of 787 Dreamliners
October 16. 2013
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53. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Posits substantial ~instantaneous mechanical damage to battery module
Impalement would have instantly destroyed at least four 18650 battery cells
Close-up image: module in 60 kWh Model S pack shows dense battery packing
Batteries oriented vertically in Tesla module
Panasonic batteries are
packed in dense vertical
arrays within each Tesla
Model A battery pack module
Top view
Panasonic NCR18650A 3100mAh
LiNiCoAlO2 18650 battery cells
Standard size: dia. 18.6 mm; length 65.2 mm
Three-inch diameter metallic
object piercing into such a
module perpendicularly
would damage it heavily;
very likely, at least four
18650 cells would be totally
destroyed along with wiring
If ‘bullet’ piece of “armor
plate” were shot obliquely
deeper into array, damage
level could be far worse
Image source: Panasonic
Object
Image source: NHTSA
October 16. 2013
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54. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Posits substantial ~instantaneous mechanical damage to battery cells
Is there a well-known battery safety test analogous to Tesla’s impalement?
Yes – it is called the “nail penetration test” in the battery business
In test, metallic nail is driven into a battery casing at some angle to the long axis of a
cylindrical battery case (“can”) enclosing the anode/separator/cathode “jellyroll”
Parameters that can be varied include: composition of nail; diameter of nail; rate of
penetration into case; rate of withdrawal from case (in some experiments, nail is not
withdrawn); depth of penetration into case; angle of penetration; tip shape and taper
thereon; etc. Bottom line is that anodes and cathodes inside 18650 jellyroll short-out
Certain battery chemistries are more prone to react violently during a nail test; even
in problematic chemistries, behavior can be very erratic: sometimes little happens
While battery cell always ‘killed’ by this test, subsequent effects of nail penetration
can be quite variable. Outcomes can range from simple cessation of operation all the
way up to electric arc discharge shorts and thermal runaway events; sometimes
accompanied by explosions (TIAX says not uncommon within 200 ms of penetration)
Will explore this analogy by reviewing what happens in 18650 nail and crush tests
October 16. 2013
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55. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Nail penetration tests on 18650 Lithium-based batteries
Tesla’s impalement theory is akin to single-cell nail penetration test on steroids
Situation physically analogous but on a much larger length-scale and more complex
Single 18650 cell
impaled by metal nail
Single Tesla module (great many cells)
impaled by “large metallic object”
Top view
18650 cell with jellyroll architecture
1/8” dia. nail
3” dia. object
Cross-sectional area in
case of perpendicular
impact by an object
Crucial differences: in impalement of Model S module by “large metallic object” at least four
18650 cells would be shorted-out and mechanically destroyed along with their current-carrying
wiring; in addition, active coolant channels used by other battery cells could be disrupted; also,
effectiveness of passive intumescent materials could be reduced by mechanical displacement
October 16. 2013
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56. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Nail penetration test on 18650 Lithium-based batteries
Battery cell temperature jumps upward by ~600o C after being pierced by nail
Nail penetration test on commercial 18650 Lithium-based battery cell in NETZSCH ARC 254
Quoting: “Figure 3
shows the set of
measurement results for
a charged 18650 cell at
room temperature. The
cell was kept at a
constant temperature
within the calorimeter
over a period of 18
minutes. The metal
perforator penetrated
the battery cell for a
period of ten seconds
and was then rewithdrawn from the
battery. The electrical
short circuit caused the
temperature during the
reaction to reach a
maximum value of
614°C at a heating rate
of roughly 1,700 K/min.”
Source (downloads 3-page pdf Netzch “Application Note” - see Fig.3 on page 3): http://tinyurl.com/qzeq8w8
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Nail penetration process on 18650 Lithium-based batteries
TIAX LLC simulations: temperatures >1,000o C near nail in ~200 milliseconds
Very high local temp
Source: http://www4.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/resources/merit-review/sites/default/files/es142_sriramulu_2013_p.pdf
October 16. 2013
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58. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Nail penetration tests on 18650 Lithium-based batteries
TIAX LLC conclusion: if runaway occurs, happens within 200 - 500 milliseconds
Source: http://www4.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/resources/merit-review/sites/default/files/es142_sriramulu_2013_p.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Crush tests: Lithium-based 18650 batteries with different chemistries
“Large metallic object” would also cause crushing of cells in Tesla module
Crushing triggered thermal runaway in Oxide 18650 cell; Phosphate reacted little
Source: http://www.battcon.com/PapersFinal2004/NguyenPaper2004.pdf
October 16. 2013
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60. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
In October 1, 2013 runaway event Tesla experienced a module failure
At 2013 NTSB battery forum, D. Doughty of Battery Safety Consulting, Inc. said:
“Failure mechanisms of
Li-ion batteries”
Dr. Daniel Doughty
Battery Safety Consulting, Inc.
April 11, 2013
NTSB Battery Forum
12 MS-PowerPoint slides
Source: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/batteryforum/presentations/Doughty%20Sandia%20Presentation%20-%20Battery%20Forum.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Applicable insights from penetration/crush tests on 18650 battery cells
When a thermal runaway occurs it is often within few seconds of impalement
3” dia. metal ‘nail’ piercing a Tesla module would likely trigger an instant runaway
According to Tesla’s theory, in hypothesized freak-accident scenario a “large metal object” impaled
first, front-edge module of a Model S’ battery pack; to do so, it pierced 0.25” “armor plate” protecting
the battery pack with a force of 25 tons, causing massive internal damage inside the impaled module
(note: as explained earlier herein, its force was likely >>25 tons if protective plate was really armor)
Under this scenario, Tesla posits massive, near-instantaneous catastrophic mechanical damage to the
front-edge module in the battery pack; they implicitly assume this damage caused a “perfect storm” of
factors that in the end overwhelmed four key elements of Tesla’s very sophisticated thermal runaway
defense system (1. tight BMS control over voltage and temperature of individual battery cells within a
safe operating range; 2. active cooling of individual cells; 3. passive intumescent materials that create
additional ‘pop-up’ thermal isolation barriers between cells if overheating occurs; 4. ability to quickly
electrically isolate either individual troublesome or failing cells/modules, or even entire battery pack)
Key point: experimental data on 18650 nail penetration and crush tests shows that if violent thermal
runaways occur in such situations, they frequently start within less than a second or two. That clearly
was not the case in October 1 incident: driver first “thought he hit something,” received battery trouble
warning from vehicle, smelled burning smell/smoke, and still had enough time to drive to next highway
exit, go down a 0.2 mile exit ramp, pull to side of road and then safely exit the vehicle before 6’ flames
engulfed the front-end --- all of this took > 2 - 3 minutes. This surprisingly long event timeline is not
very consistent with 18650 piercing data or with massive instant damage implied in Tesla’s theory
October 16. 2013
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62. Lattice Energy LLC
Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Applicable insights from penetration/crush tests on 18650 battery cells
If Tesla’s theory is inconsistent with timeline then what scenario may fit better?
Timeline is consistent with field-failure of one cell: Tesla systems slowed propagation
Lattice’s alternative theory for the October 1 model S runaway posits that: field-failure
internal electrical short (whatever its proximate cause might truly be) occurred in a single
18650 cell that was located somewhere in first front module of vehicle’s battery pack
Field-failure-triggered event caused catastrophic overheating of the affected cell, creating
huge local temperature increase within a few seconds. Note: field-failures are known to burn
vastly hotter than “garden variety” thermal runaways and can generate their own Oxygen
supply from battery materials - see Appendix 1 for more details about field-failures
Small explosion could have occurred inside front battery module without breaching the
armored pack; unsuspecting, very surprised driver (Mr. Robert Carlson) could have easily
misinterpreted a ‘whomph’ he could have felt with his body as an indication that his vehicle
had run over some sort of object lying on the road (while admittedly speculative, this idea is
plausible in view of fact that existence of “large metallic object” has not been demonstrated)
Propagation of field-failure-induced runaway condition into adjacent cells (“thermal
fratricide”) within the same battery pack module was slowed rather significantly by
previously-noted 4 key features of Tesla’s battery safety system (“controlled burn”). This
lengthened runaway event timeline to observed longer total duration of > 2 - 3 minutes
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Field-failure in a single battery cell could have caused October 1 event
At a 2013 NTSB forum, Doughty presented an excellent conceptual summary:
“Failure mechanisms of
Li-ion batteries”
Dr. Daniel Doughty
Battery Safety Consulting, Inc.
April 11, 2013
NTSB Battery Forum
12 MS-PowerPoint slides
Source: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/batteryforum/presentations/Doughty%20Sandia%20Presentation%20-%20Battery%20Forum.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Is Tesla's theory consistent with runaway event timeline?
Are runaway timelines faster in systems without Tesla’s safety features?
Battery thermal runaway incident with a Boeing Dreamliner at Logan Airport
GS-Yuasa didn’t have sophisticated safety features - thus a faster event timeline
For details and additional information about Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s GS-Yuasa battery
runaway incident at Logan airport earlier in 2013 that Lattice believes was most likely triggered
by a field-failure event in a single battery cell, see following Lattice PowerPoint as follows:
“NTSB reports indicate very high temperatures”
Lewis Larsen, Lattice Energy LLC, May 7, 2013 [51 slides]
http://www.slideshare.net/lewisglarsen/lattice-energy-llc-technical-discussionntsblogan-dreamliner-runaway-data-suggest-high-local-tempsmay-7-2013
Willard et al. just published a paper on battery reliability in view of GS-Yuasa battery runaway:
“Lessons learned from the 787 Dreamliner issue on Lithium-ion battery reliability”
N. Willard et al., Energies 6 pp. 4682 - 4695 (2013) free open access journal
http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/9/4682
See Logan Airport Dreamliner runaway event timeline on pp. 4688 in Willard et al.; from
10:21:04 - 08 A.M. (4-second period; anomalous events recorded in aft GS-Yuasa battery pack,
e.g., spike occurred in APU battery current while voltage dropped from 31V to 30V); at 10:21:50
(46 seconds after first anomalous battery data) aircraft’s cleaning crew smelled smoke in the
aft cabin; at 10:23:10 (2 min. 6 sec. elapsed) the 787’s APU automatically shut-down, indicating
major problems with battery system; thus, within ~2 minutes 787’s battery runaway was raging
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Wrap-up discussion
Numerous questions about runaway incident remain unanswered
NHTSA was unable to conduct a timely, independent third-party
investigation of incident because of U.S. government shutdown;
will one finally occur soon after the government reopens?
October 1, 2013 - Kent, WA USA
Scene just as firefighters arrived
Owner and driver of runaway car, Robert Carlson, has yet to be
directly interviewed by reporters; he has only released statements
through Tesla. While Carlson disclosed that he is an investor in
Tesla and understandably could be reluctant to make public
statements that might harm the company’s stock price, some
clarification of certain points by Mr. Carlson would be helpful
To date, there is still no evidence that WA DOT road crew was truly
working in the area at time of the incident and that it recovered a
hypothesized “large metallic object”; if Tesla does have this object
in its possession, why hasn’t more info about it been released?
Did Tesla receive GPS and remote telemetry data about the battery
system from vehicle during the incident? On Oct. 6, Inside EVs
reported that Tesla had Carlson’s Model S in its possession; was
BMS data recovered from nonvolatile memory that survived fire?
Exactly how many battery modules burned during fiery runaway?
If flames shown in image were fueled by combusting electrolyte,
many more than just a handful of battery cells were immolated
October 16. 2013
Tesla Motors Model S in flames
In Oct. 3, 2013 e-mail that Tesla released,
Carlson referred to these flames as a
“controlled burn” that “Internet images
really exaggerates.”
Lattice comment:
If this mini-inferno is truly
“controlled” then we are astounded.
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Wrap-up discussion
Final comments and Lattice’s conclusion
Battery impaled by “large metallic object” less likely than field-failure in one cell
Tesla’s safety features did not prevent runaway: bought extra time for driver to exit safely
One additional issue to note with Tesla’s impalement theory --- quoting from Kent fire dept.
incident report: “E71 then used a high lift jack to expose the undercarriage of the vehicle, in an
attempt to completely extinguish the battery pack. E71 discovered that there was no access to
the battery from the undercarriage. E71 then used a circular saw to cut an access hole into
front structural member to apply water to the battery pack.” Now please examine photo of Tesla
Model S’ remarkably smooth, low drag, hole-free undercarriage shown on Slide #15 herein
Open question: If a highly visible, jagged 3" hole had truly been present somewhere in area of
the front module of burned car’s battery pack as Tesla’s impalement theory posits, wouldn’t
Kent firefighters surely have noticed it in the undercarriage the moment they jacked-up the car?
Firemen would have immediately used it as alternative access route to inject more water to
further cool car’s battery pack and totally extinguish a smoldering, episodically reigniting fire
To date, there is no conclusive evidence beyond vague, unsupported assertions by various
parties that the claimed “large metallic object” even exists, let alone was recovered by anyone
for study and microscopic forensic SEM/EDX/SIMS analysis by independent third-party experts
In absence of such unequivocal proof, Lattice concludes that Model S thermal runaway fire on
October 1 was more likely caused by a field-failure event in single Panasonic 18650 battery cell
October 16. 2013
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Additional information for the more technically inclined
Convergence of advanced batteries, energetic materials and LENRs :
“Large increases in battery energy densities drive convergence between
energetic materials, LENRs and batteries”
L. Larsen, Lattice Energy LLC, September 6, 2013 [110 slides with
detailed table of contents]
http://www.slideshare.net/lewisglarsen/lattice-energy-llc-increasedenergy-densities-drive-convergence-of-batteries-and-lenrssept-6-2013
Document concerns great difficulties in containing and extinguishing thermal runaways:
“Systems to contain Lithium-based battery thermal runaways and fires; is it a feasible engineering goal or
just a fool’s paradise?”
L. Larsen, Lattice Energy LLC, August 6, 2013 [93 slides – includes detailed table of contents]
http://www.slideshare.net/lewisglarsen/lattice-energy-llc-containment-of-lithiumbased-battery-firesa-fools-paradiseaug-6-2013
Index to large collection of documents re LENR theory, experimental data, and the technology:
“Index to key concepts and documents” v. #15
L. Larsen, Lattice Energy LLC, May 28, 2013 [108 slides] Updated and revised through December 4, 2013
http://www.slideshare.net/lewisglarsen/lattice-energy-llc-index-to-documents-re-widomlarsen-theory-of-lenrsmay-28-2013
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
At a 2013 NTSB forum, Doughty presented good summary of safety concerns:
“Failure mechanisms of
Li-ion batteries”
Dr. Daniel Doughty
Battery Safety Consulting, Inc.
April 11, 2013
NTSB Battery Forum
12 MS-PowerPoint slides
Source: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/batteryforum/presentations/Doughty%20Sandia%20Presentation%20-%20Battery%20Forum.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
At a 2013 NTSB forum, Doughty summarized his thinking on runaway triggers:
“Failure mechanisms of
Li-ion batteries”
Dr. Daniel Doughty
Battery Safety Consulting, Inc.
April 11, 2013
NTSB Battery Forum
12 MS-PowerPoint slides
Source: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/batteryforum/presentations/Doughty%20Sandia%20Presentation%20-%20Battery%20Forum.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
At a 2013 NTSB forum, Doughty presented an excellent conceptual summary:
“Failure mechanisms of
Li-ion batteries”
Dr. Daniel Doughty
Battery Safety Consulting, Inc.
April 11, 2013
NTSB Battery Forum
12 MS-PowerPoint slides
Source: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/batteryforum/presentations/Doughty%20Sandia%20Presentation%20-%20Battery%20Forum.pdf
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
No Lithium-based battery chemistry is 100% immune to runaway risks
Market success of lithium-based batteries and large
increases in cell energy densities have encouraged
battery technologists familiar with relatively small-scale
applications to scale-up into physically larger lithiumbased cells and huge arrays of cells that can address
vastly larger electrical energy storage requirements of
stationary back-up power systems and mobile platforms,
e.g., hybrid and all-electric plug-in vehicles, as well as
new aircraft such as the Boeing Dreamliner.
Unfortunately, this scale-up has led to unforeseen safety
issues that were either simply not readily apparent to
anyone or irrelevant risk factors in smaller-scale system
applications
There is really no such thing as a real-world Lithium
battery chemistry that is 100% immune to danger of
thermal runaways and/or catastrophic field-failures. From
risk management perspective, various lithium chemistries
only differ in their relative probabilities; some are more or
less problem-prone than others
October 16. 2013
High-Q microresonators on a silicon
wafer - class of devices called
whispering-gallery-mode resonators
Credit: Image by Jiangang Zhu
and Jingyang Gan/WUSTL
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Birth of a thermal runaway event
Typically well-controlled electrochemical reactions in batteries ordinarily generate a
certain amount of unavoidable process heat which is then dissipated harmlessly
simply by emitting invisible infra-red radiation from the battery case out into the local
environment; during normal operation, contents of battery cells still remain wellwithin proscribed boundaries of designed range of optimal thermochemical
operating temperatures
On rare occasions, for a variety of different reasons, a battery cell’s electrochemical
reactions can suddenly start running at greatly elevated rates that create more
process heat than a battery’s normal thermal dissipative mechanisms can easily
handle, which then starts raising the temperature of battery cell contents out beyond
their ideal safe operating range; threshold for out-of-control danger has not yet been
crossed
At key point --- call it the Rubicon River for a failing battery cell --- a very dangerous
positive (+) feedback loop is created: whereby, increasing cell temperatures further
accelerate electrochemical reactions in cells which produces even more heat, boosting
local cell temperatures even higher, etc.
Thermal runaways are thus born: only question is how bad they get before destroying
enough of a battery to stop + feedback-accelerated reactions
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Field-failures are statistically rare but very fast and damaging when they occur
By any reasonable standard, lithium-based batteries are a pretty
safe technology: garden variety thermal runaways only occur at
frequencies of one such event per several millions of battery cells
The very worst, least understood type of thermal runaway, which
goes under innocuous-sounding sobriquet of “field-failure,” occurs
at a rate of one such event per ~ 4 - 5 million lithium-based battery
cells right off the production line and regardless of their chemistry
or primary vs. secondary, according to statistics collected by a
major Japanese manufacturer of lithium-ion consumer batteries
There’s one more issue: although it’s hard to quantitatively specify,
probability of thermal runaways seems to increase significantly as
batteries age and go thru a great many charge-discharge cycles
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
“Garden variety” thermal runaways:
Temps: ~300o C up to 600o C (Lattice’s criteria)
Reasonably well understood failure events
Triggered by substantial over-charging or excessively
deep discharges of Li batteries
Triggered by external mechanical damage to battery
cells, e.g., crushing, punctures; growth of internal Li
dendrites can mechanically pierce plastic separators
Field-failure thermal runaways also typically include electric arc shorting:
Temps: > 600o C - can go up to thousands of o C with electric arcs
Much rarer and comparatively poorly understood
Many believe triggered and/or accompanied by electrical arc
discharges (internal shorts); what causes initial micro-arcs?
Much higher peak temperatures vs. garden variety events
Lattice suggests: super-hot low energy nuclear reactions (LENRs)
could well be initial triggers for some % of them
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Thermal runaways can have greatly varying degrees of severity
Garden variety single-cell thermal runaways can be as little as a battery
that just heats-up a bit and simply stops functioning … or a battery’s
case can bulge significantly from internally generated heat without
designed venting and releasing of contents from the inside before it
stops functioning and then starts cooling down on its own
A slightly worse variant of a garden variety thermal runaway results in
just a single cell venting or rupturing, but (in cases of flammable
electrolytes) there are no hot, flaming battery contents spewed-out that
could potentially ignite local combustibles and adjacent cells
In worst-case garden variety runaway, hot flaming electrolyte erupts
from a ruptured battery cell, which may ignite nearby materials and
cells; in this event variant (that is still not the worst-of-the-worst),
internal peak temperatures usually not yet hot-enough to melt metals
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Field-failures are truly catastrophic events in chemical batteries
Battery industry definition of a field-failure thermal runaway event:
Source: “Batteries for Sustainability – Selected Entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Science and Technology,”
Ralph J. Brodd, Ed., Chapter 9 by B. Barnett et al., “Lithium-ion Batteries, Safety” Springer ISBN 978-1-4614-5791-6 (2012)
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Absolute worst-case Armageddon runaways involve burning metals
Field-failure category of thermal runaways can reach extremely high peak
temperatures of thousands of degrees Centigrade along with big electric arcs
Such temperatures are hot-enough to melt metallic structures inside batteries
and combust almost anything and everything located within a battery case
If initiating spark is hot-enough, battery materials containing chemically bound
oxygen will release it as O2; by creating its own oxygen supply, combustion
process becomes self-sustaining, self-propagating flame front that consumes
all burnable battery materials. Progressive thermal fratricide between cells can
reduce batteries to unrecognizable debris; such fires could burn in a vacuum
In absolutely worst-case events, even METALS can start burning in very fast,
thermite-like reactions that can boost temps up to ~ 4,000o C; this is nightmare
scenario wherein even deadly explosions with shrapnel can potentially occur
October 16. 2013
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Appendix 1
Runaways and field-failures --- batteries behaving really badly
Leave domain of stable electrochemistry when batteries heat-up enough
“Burn ‘em all --- let God sort ‘em out.”
“You can run, but you can’t hide.”
1.
2.
LENRs are themselves energetic materials; can create many other energetic materials
Batteries cannot withstand star-like local temperatures created by
electric arc discharges or LENRS and remain stable; LENR-based
power systems can be designed to handle this, e.g. dusty plasmas
Creation of nightmarish local “witches’ brew” cauldrons of interreacting compounds and ions in some regions of failing batteries;
very fast, hyper-accelerated reaction rates in superheated zones
Witches’ cauldrons can generate their own supplies of Oxygen to
support combustion processes that propagate spatially within and
between battery cells via fast-moving, autocatalytic flame-fronts
coupled with intense emission of thermal infrared and UV radiation
Arc- and/or LENR-heated regions’ behavior is almost more akin to
chemistry of stellar atmospheres than everyday electrochemistry
Adapted from a U.S. military motto:
Popularized by U.S. special operations
forces during the 1960s Vietnam war
1.. Underlying motto unofficially adopted by various military groups; originally, was modernized from Latin, "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus
qui sunt eius" which literally translated means “Kill them all. God will recognize His own." Quote attributed to Arnaud, Abbot of Citeaux, in reply
to question asking how one might tell Cathar heretics from orthodox Catholics during siege of Beziers in Albigensian Crusade (July, 1209)
2. Threat made to Mad Max by a murderous character named “Wez” in Mel Gibson‘s cult-classic film, “The Road Warrior” (1981)
October 16. 2013
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Final quotation
“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a
point where they look on every new theory as
a danger, every innovation as a toilsome
trouble, every social advance as a first step
toward revolution, and that they may
absolutely refuse to move at all.”1.
“In a revolution, as in a novel, the most
difficult part to invent is the end.”2.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1840)
1. Democracy in America Volume II Book Three, Chapter XXI – “While great revolutions will become more rare” (1840)
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/816/816-h/816-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/816/816-h/816-h.htm#link2HCH0062
2. “The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville”, Alexis de Tocqueville, pp. 71 Macmillan (1896)
October 16. 2013
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