Tech Acquisition Proposal: Thermal Management/Battery Cooling Technology

Rechargeable batteries in all applications suffer the same problem: when under load or being charged they give off heat, if this heat is not managed then the batteries suffer from:

• Reduced life, reduction in number of charge cycles
• Lower storage capacity
• Risk of fire / explosion

To overcome these problems most battery users cool them using blown air, cooling plates or a combination of both. However, both approaches suffer the same problem, that a cooling fluid passing over the cells gains heat as it passes and so the cells later in the pack receive a poorer level of cooling leading to a wide range of temperatures across the pack in turn having a detrimental effect on the cells and their performance.

Our client, Flint Engineering’s cooling panel is a patent protected novel technology that ensures the whole of the surface of the panel always has the same temperature. This Isothermal ability means that despite the location of any cell in the battery pack it receives the level of cooling that is required to maintain a consistent temperature across all cells.

This is an aluminium extruded heat pipe technology, delivering an Isothermal surface. It has a low cost of manufacture, very high thermal transfer properties and common temperature delivery.  The technology can have applications in automotive batteries, refrigeration shelvesand building products, including solar panels etc.

Flint Engineering is currently working with Innovate UK funding and Vantage Power part of the Allison Transmission family. Flit Engineering have undertaken a successful proof-of-concept project and are now halfway through a second project to build full size battery packs for use in commercial vehicles. This project will be finished later this year and see the packs installed and tested in a truck.  Some of the commercial advantages over current solutions identified during these tests are:

• Better cooling
• Safer
• Structurally stronger
• Lower lost
• Better VOI

Flint Engineering is now looking for a collaboration or sale/ license of this thermal management or battery cooling technology.

For more details about the technology: Click Here