What Do Lithium Battery Testing & Top Gun Pilots Have in Common?
For those who saw the last Top Gun movie, you will remember when, in the opening scene, Tom Cruise says: “Want Mach 10? Let’s give ’em Mach 10!”, referring to making the jet plane go hypersonic. Toward the end of the movie, Cruise pushes the plane beyond its limits until he starts experiencing hypoxia (when the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen) caused by the rising altitude and the G-force.
Just like Top Gun pilots, batteries are also subjected to high and sudden acceleration (G-force) that could derive from a collision, an explosion, or a drop and that increases the force that’s exerted over them. Hence, the need to test batteries to ensure that they will withstand such harsh conditions.
Some of the most common tests that batteries are subjected to are High Acceleration Shock Test, Crush, Puncture, and Short Circuit test, just to mention a few.
UL 1642, UL 2054, and UL/CSA 62133-2 all require batteries to pass a 150G, 6ms, half-sine profile shock test.
For example, if a battery pack weighs 1kg, during a 150G shock test, the samples would be subjected to a force of 150 times their weight. Considering Newton’s kinematics equations of motion, this would be similar to crashing a battery pack from 8.827 m/s (31.78 km/h) and reducing its velocity to 0 m/s in 6 milliseconds for it to reach 150 G acceleration.
As you can see, the heavier the mass of the battery pack, the higher the force exerted on it during the test. This is why mechanical considerations become highly important when designing and integrating a new battery product.
At LabTest, we have the expertise and capabilities to test all types of batteries, including Lithium batteries. We test to a variety of industrial and military standards, including UN/DOT 38.3, UL 1642, UL 2054, and UL/CSA 62133-2.
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