Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Michael P Balogh

Ion C Halalay

Frederick E Pinkerton

Ryan Curtis Sekol

Wayne Cai

Hongliang Wang

Gregory P Meisner

Martin Stephen Meyer

Shaomao Xu

Daad B Haddad

Joel Colombo

Nicholas P Irish

Yang-Tse Cheng

Anita Miriam Weiner

Erik Damon Huemiller

Curtis A Wong

Peng Lu

Mark William Verbrugge

Xingcheng Xiao

Gayatri Vyas Dadheech

Haijing Liu

Fang Dai

Zhiqiang Yu

Charles K Buehler

Belabbes Merzougui

Nicholas W Pinto

Teresa J Rinker

Lei Wang

Sean R Wagner

Ratandeep S Kukreja

Swathy Swathirajan

Jin Liu

Michael K Lukitsch

Gregory Charles Garabedian

Catherine A Ostrander

Niccolo Jimenez

Misle M Tessema

Matthew D Kundrat

Frederick A Hayes

Nancy L Johnson

Timothy J Fuller

Mei Cai

Mahmoud H Abd Elhamid

Wei Ping Li

Brian James Koch

John J Vajo

James Gregory Schroth

John Stilianos Agapiou

Thomas Arthur Perry

Zhongyi Liu

Raffaello Ardanese

Kevin B Rober

Ingrid A Rousseau

Yang T Cheng

Michael Kevin Carpenter

Dmitriy Bruder

Thomas J Chapaton

Daniel P Miller

Raghunathan K

Michael J Lukitsch

Nicole D Ellison

Anil Bika

John M Moote

Megan E McGovern

John T Johnson

Xingyi Yang

Margarita P Thompson

Matthew Timothy Hamilton

Graham S Foulkes

Charles C Mentzer

Joel G Toner

William Osad

Andrew J Galant

Jiazhi Hu

Nicholas Paul William Pieczonka

Tengjiao Qi

Kitty L Gong

Lane G Lindstrom

Xiaoqing Zeng

Teresa U Holiness-Stalling

Xiaowei Yu

Daniel E Rodak

Sky L Skeith

Steven J Schmidt

Eric G Hartnagle

Florian Mertens

Daniel R Thompson

Mark A Hughes, Jr

Micheal J Lukitsch

Mary K Gusie

Jon C Halalay

Presented are devices for measuring dimensions of tear seams, methods for making/using such devices, and handheld clamp calipers for gauging material thicknesses of tear seams in passenger airbag breakaway panels. A handheld or automated measurement tool for determining seam dimensions includes first and second jaws operatively attached to a calibrated scale. The calibrated scale displays a measurement value fora dimension of a seam. The first jaw includes a first jaw tip projecting from a first jaw mandible. The second jaw includes a second jaw tip projecting from a second jaw mandible, which is movably attached with the first jaw mandible. Each of the jaw tips contacts a respective surface of the seam. An interior edge of the second jaw tip is disposed at an oblique angle of less than 90 degrees from an interior edge of the second jaw mandible.

Systems, methods, and devices for measuring tear seam thicknesses of breakaway panels for vehicle airbags

Aspects of the disclosure include leveraging an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping of copper current collectors for non-contact, non-destructive, in-line quality inspections of thin lithium metal anodes. An exemplary method can include receiving an electrode at a detection surface of the XRF detector. The electrode can include the lithium anode on a surface of a current collector. X-rays are passed through the lithium anode and into the current collector and the intensity of characteristic radiation returning from the current collector is measured at the XRF detector. A lithium anode characteristic can be inferred based on the measured intensity of characteristic radiation from the current collector.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping for anode inspection

An electrolyte composition for electrochemical cells including a silicon-containing electrode is provided herein as well as electrochemical cells including the electrolyte composition. The electrolyte composition includes a lithium salt, fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), a linear carbonate, vinylene carbonate, and a fluorosilane additive. The FEC and the linear carbonate are present in the electrolyte composition in a ratio of about 1:3 v/v to about 1:9 v/v.

Electrolyte for electrochemical cells with a silicon-containing electrode

A method of manufacturing a component having a porosity-controlled lithium metal coating includes setting up an aerosol spray apparatus having a material feeder and a confinement conduit in fluid communication therewith. The confinement conduit has an inlet end and a nozzle end. The method also includes setting up a substrate having an exposed surface on a moveable tooling plate and directing the nozzle end at the exposed surface. The method additionally includes loading a lithium metal into the material feeder. The method also includes feeding a high-pressure gas into the inlet end of the confinement conduit to thereby form an aerosol spray of lithium metal. The method further includes moving the tooling plate to regulate a thickness and a pattern of deposition of the lithium metal onto the exposed surface through the nozzle end to thereby generate a porous lithium metal coating on the substrate.

Application of porosity-controlled lithium metal coating

A system for evaluating a battery cell includes an imaging device configured to take an image of at least part of the battery cell, and a processor. The processor is configured to perform: determining a region of interest in the acquired image, reducing a sharpness of the acquired image to generate a reference image, comparing the acquired image and the reference image, and identifying a discontinuity of the battery cell based on a difference between the acquired image and the reference image.

Image processing and detection of discontinuities in battery cells

Presented are lithium-metal electrodes for electrochemical devices, systems and methods for manufacturing lithium-metal foils, and vehicle battery packs containing battery cells with lithium-metal anodes. A method of melt spinning lithium-metal foils includes melting lithium (Li) metal stock in an actively heated vessel to form molten Li metal. Using pressurized gas, the molten Li metal is ejected through a slotted nozzle at the base of the vessel. The ejected molten Li metal is directly impinged onto an actively cooled and spinning quench wheel or a carrier sheet that is fed across a support roller underneath the vessel. The molten Li metal is cooled and solidified on the spinning wheel/carrier sheet to form a Li-metal foil. The carrier sheet may be a polymeric carrier film or a copper current collector foil. An optional protective film may be applied onto an exposed surface of the Li-metal foil opposite the carrier sheet.

Melt spinning methods for forming lithium-metal foils and electrodes of electrochemical devices

A quality control system in a battery manufacturing process includes two or more capacitive measurement apparatuses to obtain a capacitance measurement from two or more intermediate products generated during the battery manufacturing process. The system also includes processing circuitry to obtain the capacitive measurement from the two or more capacitive measurement apparatuses, to determine a characteristic of the corresponding intermediate product, and to control at least one process of the battery manufacturing process that produced at least one of the two or more intermediate products based on the characteristic.

Capacitance-based quality monitoring and control in battery manufacturing

In various aspects, the present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing an electrode for an electrochemical cell. The method includes contacting a solid electrode material and a substrate at an interface. The method further includes preparing a liquid electrode material at the interface by heating at least a portion of the solid electrode material to a first temperature. The first temperature is greater than or equal to a melting point of the solid electrode material. The method further includes creating a layer of the liquid electrode material on the substrate by moving at least one of the solid electrode material and the substrate with respect to the other of the solid electrode material and the substrate. The method further includes forming the electrode by cooling the liquid electrode material to a second temperature. The second temperature is less than or equal to the melting point.

Method of fabricating an electrode for an electrochemical cell

Methods of making negative electrode materials for an electrochemical cell that cycles lithium ions are provided. A surface of the electrode material formed of silicon, silicon-containing alloys, tin-containing alloys, or combinations thereof is treated with an oxidant at a first temperature of greater than or equal to about 100&#xb0; C. to form a continuous intermediate layer comprising oxides. The method also includes pyrolyzing a carbon-containing precursor over the continuous intermediate layer at a second temperature of greater than or equal to about 600&#xb0; C. to form a continuous carbon coating thereon. The intermediate layer oxides may be transformed to carbides. The continuous carbon coating comprises both graphitic carbon and amorphous carbon and may be a multilayered coating, where the inner layer predominantly includes amorphous carbon and the outer layer predominantly includes graphitic carbon.

Methods for controlling formation of multilayer carbon coatings on silicon-containing electroactive materials for lithium-ion batteries

A method for fabricating an anode for a lithium ion battery cell is described and includes forming a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer on a raw anode prior to assembly into a battery cell by applying a first SEI-generating electrolyte to the raw anode to form a first intermediate anode, applying a second SEI-generating electrolyte to the first intermediate anode to form a second intermediate anode, and applying a third SEI-generating electrolyte to the second intermediate anode to form a cell anode, wherein the cell anode includes the raw anode having the SEI layer. Thus, a cell anode is formed by sequentially applying SEI-generating electrolytes to a raw anode to form the cell anode with an SEI layer, and a lithium ion battery cell is formed by assembling the cell anode into a cell pack, with a cathode, and a separator, and adding a cell electrolyte prior to sealing.

Method for fabricating an anode for a lithium battery cell

An electrode heat treatment device and associated method for fabricating an electrode are described, and include forming a workpiece, including coating a current collector with a slurry. The workpiece is placed on a first spool, and the first spool including the workpiece is placed in a sealable chamber, wherein the sealable chamber includes the first spool, a heat exchange work space, and a second spool. An inert environment is created in the sealable chamber. The workpiece is subjected to a multi-step continuous heat treatment operation in the inert environment, wherein the multi-step continuous heat treatment operation includes continuously transferring the workpiece through the heat exchange work space between the first spool and the second spool and controlling the heat exchange work space to an elevated temperature.

Method and apparatus for pyrolyzing an electrode

Electroactive materials having a nitrogen-containing carbon coating and composite materials for a high-energy-density lithium-based, as well as methods of formation relating thereto, are provided. The composite electrode material includes a silicon-containing electroactive material having a substantially continuous nitrogen-containing carbon coating formed thereon. The method includes contacting the silicon-containing electroactive material and one or more nitrogen-containing precursor materials and heating the mixture. The one or more nitrogen-containing precursor materials include one or more nitrogen-carbon bonds and during heating the nitrogen of the one or more nitrogen-carbon bonds with silicon in the silicon-containing electroactive material to form the nitrogen-containing carbon coating on exposed surfaces of the silicon-containing electroactive material.

Method for making silicon-containing composite electrodes for lithium-based batteries

An electrolyte can be pretreated by contacting with an oxide species (e.g., SiO, SiO, where 1&#x2264;x&#x2264;2, TiO). The electrolyte comprises LiPFand a carbonate solvent. A reaction occurs to form a pretreated electrolyte comprising a compound selected from the group consisting of: MPOF, MPOFCH, and combinations thereof, where when P in the formula is normalized to 1 so that x' is equal to about 1, 0&#x3c;y&#x2264;4, 0&#x3c;z&#x2264;6, 0&#x2264;a&#x2264;3, 0 &#x2264;n&#x2264;20, 0&#x2264;m&#x2264;42, and M is selected from Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, B, Ti, Al, and combinations thereof. Lithium-ion electrochemical cells including lithium titanate oxide (LTO) using such a pretreated electrolyte have reduced reactivity and gas formation.

Methods to stabilize lithium titanate oxide (LTO) by electrolyte pretreatment

Methods of pretreating an electroactive material comprising lithium titanate oxide (LTO) include contacting a surface of the electroactive material with a pretreatment composition. In one variation, the pretreatment composition includes a salt of lithium fluoride salt selected from the group consisting of: lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF), lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF), and combinations thereof, and a solvent. In another variation, the pretreatment composition includes an organophosphorus compound. In this manner, a protective surface coating forms on the surface of the electroactive material. The protective surface coating comprises fluorine, oxygen, phosphorus or boron, as well as optional elements such as carbon, hydrogen, and listed metals, and combinations thereof.

Methods to stabilize lithium titanate oxide (LTO) by surface coating

A method of forming a separator for a lithium-ion battery includes arranging a polymer film in contact with a sacrificial layer to form a cutting stack. The method includes disposing the cutting stack between a first vitreous substrate and a second vitreous substrate. The method includes applying an infrared laser to the cutting stack through the first vitreous substrate to generate heat at the sacrificial layer. The method also includes transferring heat from the sacrificial layer to the polymer film to thereby cut out a portion of the polymer film and form the separator. A method of cutting a polymer film and a cutting system are also explained.

Method of forming a separator for a lithium-ion battery

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Novi, MI, United States of America

Michael P Balogh