Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Other

California Institute of Technology

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Gregory P Meisner

Mark William Verbrugge

Frederick E Pinkerton

Martin Stephen Meyer

Brian James Koch

Michael P Balogh

Robert S Conell

Jean-Pierre Fleurial

Donald T Morelli

Jihui Yang

Thierry F Caillat

Alex Borshchevsky

Jan F Herbst

Matthew D Kundrat

Gregory Paul Prior

James R Salvador

Viswanathan Panchanathan

John J Croat

Lidong Chen

Daniel B Glassford

Xun Shi

Qingyuan Hu

Jung Young Cho

Dongjoon Ahn

One exemplary embodiment includes a method including providing a battery, producing a first magnetic field so that a second magnetic field is induced in the battery, sensing a magnetic field resulting from the interaction of the first magnetic field and the second magnetic field, utilizing the sensed net magnetic field to determine the state of charge of the battery.

System and method to determine the state of charge of a battery using magnetostriction to detect magnetic response of battery material

A thermoelectric material includes a substrate particle and a plurality of conformal oxide layers formed on the substrate particle. The plurality of conformal oxide layers has a total oxide layer thickness ranging from about 2 nm to about 20 nm. The thermoelectric material excludes oxide nanoparticles. A method of making the thermoelectric material is also disclosed herein.

Thermoelectric material including conformal oxide layers and method of making the same using atomic layer deposition

An exemplary embodiment includes a method of determining a state of charge of a battery system including determining a temperature dependent magnetic property value of a magnetic material proximate a battery cell; determining a temperature compensated value of said determined magnetic property value; and, using said temperature compensated value as an input to a state of charge (SOC) estimator to determine a state of charge (SOC) of said battery system.

Temperature compensation for magnetic determination method for the state of charge of a battery

Methods and systems are provided for determining a state of charge of a battery. The battery is subjected to a predetermined magnetic field such that the battery and the predetermined magnetic field jointly create a resultant magnetic field. The resultant magnetic field is sensed. The state of charge of the battery is determined based on the resultant magnetic field.

Method and system for determining a state of charge of a battery

Thermoelectric devices, intended for placement in the exhaust of a hydrocarbon fuelled combustion device and particularly suited for use in the exhaust gas stream of an internal combustion engine propelling a vehicle, are described. Exhaust gas passing through the device is in thermal communication with one side of a thermoelectric module while the other side of the thermoelectric module is in thermal communication with a lower temperature environment. The heat extracted from the exhaust gasses is converted to electrical energy by the thermoelectric module. The performance of the generator is enhanced by thermally coupling the hot and cold junctions of the thermoelectric modules to phase-change materials which transform at a temperature compatible with the preferred operating temperatures of the thermoelectric modules. In a second embodiment, a plurality of thermoelectric modules, each with a preferred operating temperature and each with a uniquely-matched phase-change material may be used to compensate for the progressive lowering of the exhaust gas temperature as it traverses the length of the exhaust pipe.

Thermoelectric generators incorporating phase-change materials for waste heat recovery from engine exhaust

Implementing an optimized waste heat recovery system includes calculating a temperature and a rate of change in temperature of a heat exchanger of a waste heat recovery system, and predicting a temperature and a rate of change in temperature of a material flowing through a channel of the waste heat recovery system. Upon determining the rate of change in the temperature of the material is predicted to be higher than the rate of change in the temperature of the heat exchanger, the optimized waste heat recovery system calculates a valve position and timing for the channel that is configurable for achieving a rate of material flow that is determined to produce and maintain a defined threshold temperature of the heat exchanger, and actuates the valve according to the calculated valve position and calculated timing.

Bypass valve and coolant flow controls for optimum temperatures in waste heat recovery systems

A substantially homogeneous composite for making a carbon material includes a carbon precursor and an activation agent that is soluble in a solution including the carbon precursor. An amount of the activation agent used is sufficient to form the carbon material having at least 90% of a total pore volume of the carbon material composed of micropores, and 10% or less of the total pore volume composed of mesopores and macropores.

Microporous carbon and method for making the same

A method of filling a hydrogen gas storage tank with hydrogen gas includes filling an onboard hydrogen gas storage tank with hydrogen gas at substantially constant temperature and pressure while transferring a liquid from the hydrogen gas storage tank to a reservoir tank, compressing a gas in the reservoir tank by the flow of liquid into the reservoir tank, and managing the heat produced by the compression of gas in the reservoir tank off board the vehicle. A hydrogen gas delivery system includes an onboard hydrogen gas storage tank, a hydrogen gas supply line, a reservoir tank, and a liquid that transfers the heat of filling the hydrogen gas storage tank to the reservoir by effecting a compression of gas in the reservoir.

Offboard heat management during compressed gas filling of vehicular hydrogen storage tanks

A method of improving the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of a high-efficiency thermoelectric material is disclosed. The method includes the addition of fullerene (C) clusters between the crystal grains of the material. It has been found that the lattice thermal conductivity (&#x3ba;) of a thermoelectric material decreases with increasing fullerene concentration, due to enhanced phonon-large defect scattering. The resulting power factor (S/&#x3c1;) decrease of the material is offset by the lattice thermal conductivity reduction, leading to enhanced ZT values at temperatures of between 350 degrees K and 700 degrees K.

Method of improving thermoelectric figure of merit of high efficiency thermoelectric materials

An apparatus is provided that includes a thermoelectric generator and an exhaust gas system operatively connected to the thermoelectric generator to heat a portion of the thermoelectric generator with exhaust gas flow through the thermoelectric generator. A coolant system is operatively connected to the thermoelectric generator to cool another portion of the thermoelectric generator with coolant flow through the thermoelectric generator. At least one valve is controllable to cause the coolant flow through the thermoelectric generator in a direction that opposes a direction of the exhaust gas flow under a first set of operating conditions and to cause the coolant flow through the thermoelectric generator in the direction of exhaust gas flow under a second set of operating conditions.

Thermoelectric generator cooling system and method of control

A low-cost filled skutterudite for advanced thermoelectric applications is disclosed. The filled skutterudite uses the relatively low-cost mischmetal, either alone or in addition to rare earth elements, as a starting material for guest or filler atoms.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Gregory P Meisner