Senior Research Associate Carlos Da Silva, left, and University Professor Cristina Amon (MIE), right, in the Thermal Management Systems (TMS) Laboratory. They are leading two of the five projects that have received funding from the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) in the latest round. (photo by Aaron Demeter)
New funding from the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) will advance five projects from across U of T Engineering, with applications ranging from sustainable aviation to next-generation electric vehicle battery systems.
Two of the five projects are based at U of T Engineering’s Thermal Management Systems (TMS) Laboratory and focus on improving the way battery systems handle heat, as well as developing lightweight structural battery pack components.
“Whether they are being used for electric vehicles or for stationary energy storage systems that reduce strain on the grid, lithium-ion batteries are transforming the way we use electricity,” says Carlos Da Silva, Senior Research Associate at the TMS Lab and Executive Director of U of T’s Electrification Hub.
“Unfortunately, today’s batteries are still sensitive to temperature: if they get too cold or too hot, it can degrade their performance and even present safety risks. We are working on new technologies that make batteries more resilient to thermal fluctuations.”
Led by Professor Cristina Amon (MIE), researchers from the TMS lab are building advanced computational modelling and digital twin methodologies that predict and optimize how heat flows through battery packs. The methodologies are carefully calibrated and validated through industry-relevant experiments in the lab.
These methodologies will help battery designers anticipate and prevent thermal management challenges before they arise. It can also enable them to optimize the design and deployment of fire mitigation measures, such as ultra-thin heat barriers, within their battery systems.
The team is also collaborating with Ford Canada and several other companies in the energy storage space. For example, they have worked with Jule (powered by eCAMION) on the development of direct current electric vehicle fast chargers with integrated battery energy storage systems, one of which was recently unveiled on the U of T campus.
“We are grateful for this ORF-RE funding, which will accelerate our research and help us further expand our partnerships, ensuring that battery thermal innovations have a seamless transition from the lab to the marketplace,” says Amon.
“As a result of this work, the next generation of batteries will be safer and more resilient than ever before, which is especially important in colder climates like ours here in Ontario.”
The full list of U of T Engineering principal investigators and their associated projects funded by ORF-RE in the latest round is:
- Cristina Amon (MIE) — Next-Gen Electric Vehicle Battery Systems: Lightweight, Thermally Performant and Fire Safe for all Climates
- Cristina Amon (MIE) — Powering Ontario’s Grid Transformation and Electric Vehicle Fast Charging with Thermally Resilient Battery Energy Storage
- Aimy Bazylak (MIE) — RECYCLEAN: Critical Minerals Recycling & Re-manufacturing for the Energy Transition
- Clinton Groth (UTIAS) — Hydrogen as a Sustainable Aviation Fuel – Combustion Research to Remove Impediments to Adoption in Gas Turbine Engines
- Javad Mostaghimi (MIE) — A New Generation of Compact, Transportable Mass Spectrometers for Rapid, In-Field Sample Analysis
– This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on November 25, 2024, by Tyler Irving.
