Expert Details
Batteries and Battery Interfaces: System Design and Analysis
ID: 731600
Idaho, USA
Prior to starting his own business over 20 years ago he also acted as an in house consultant for major corporations due to his broad knowledge in battery applications both in military/government and the commercial sectors. At his test facility he has performed life, characterization, and safety testing for NASA and other customers and has equipment capable of wide temperature, current, and voltage ranges. He has qualified batteries for both the STS (shuttle) and the ISS (International Space Station). The safety test chamber can safely test batteries up to approximately one kW. Expert has a battery database that goes back more than 40 years which has been useful for some legal actions on patent infringement and where replacement batteries are no longer available. He is an expert in "system design" which is a requirement to obtain high reliability and long life in remote applications and modern devices.
He has a thorough understanding of the battery interfaces and their effect on the lifetime of the battery. These interfaces include; thermal, electrical, and mechanical, as well as, the internals of the cell and battery designs and the quality control necessary to obtain these goals. He has performed trouble shooting and failure analysis for such organizations as NATO and has helped commercial customers which has had reporting requirements to the FAA and FDA. He has reviewed contracts for the DoE and other government organizations. He has presented numerous papers and has been an invited speaker to the Inorganic Fluorine Chemistry meeting in Russia.
He has previously been involved with automobile racing as pit crew and technical inspector and has served on an ad hoc committee for EV racing for the Sports Car Club of America. Expert has also built prototype batteries for both military and commercial customers, as well as, performed international marketing and analysis.
He determined the reason for failure and fire of a lithium-ion battery system aboard a racing catamaran sailboat.He determined the reasons for failure in lithium-ion batteries in a portable gaming device, PDA, cell phone, and digital cameras.He has been responsible for determining battery failures on numerous battery designs for both military and commercial customers and has provided support for new programs that required specialty batteries.He has provided battery testing and consulting services for various customers in the aerospace industry for both aircraft and space applications. He has his own battery testing and disassembly and analysis facility.He has performed trouble shooting and design considerations for various government customers.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1970 | Degree: BS | Subject: Chemistry | Institution: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) |
Year: 1972 | Degree: none | Subject: Interdisciplinary | Institution: RPI |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 1992 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Owner | Department: |
Responsibilities:He started and runs a battery design, testing, and consulting business. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1987 to 1991 | Employer: Hughes Aircraft | Title: Battery Staff Engineer | Department: |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for several Hi-H2, Ni-Cd, and Na-S battery programs, internal consulting for other divisions, evaluation of new cell and battery technologies, and international marketing. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1981 to 1986 | Employer: Ford Aerospace | Title: Battery Project Manager | Department: |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for integrating a high temperature sodium-sulfur battery into spacecraft design. He was also responsible for building Ni-H2 and Ni-Cd batteries into spacecraft. He also acted as an in house consultant for other divisions and applications. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1975 to 1981 | Employer: Medtronic, Inc. | Title: Lithium Battery Project Manager | Department: Energy Technology (Promeon) |
Responsibilities:He responsibilities included design and manufacture of prototype lithium-iodine batteries and transfer them into production. Helped with development of a new battery facility. Testing and evaluation of lithium batteries. Acted as an in house consultant. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1973 to 1975 | Employer: General Electric | Title: electrochemist | Department: R&D facility (K-1) |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for assembly and testing of various prototype solid electrolyte batteries. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1973 to 1973 | Employer: Honeywell | Title: electrochemist | Department: Power Sources Center |
Responsibilities:R&D in both molten salt and ambient temperature lithium batteries. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1967 to 1969 | Employer: Union Carbide Corp. | Title: | Department: Metals Div. |
Responsibilities:(summers) Performed chemical analyses of various ores and metals. |
Government Experience
Years | Agency | Role | Description |
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Years: 1994 to 2011 | Agency: NASA | Role: Cell & Battery Testing | Description: Expert was responsible for testing both cells and batteries for safety, life and characterization to identify weakness and flaws in their designs. |
Years: 1999 to 2013 | Agency: NSWC | Role: Develop batteries | Description: Design and build batteries for various new Navy programs |
Years: 1992 to 1994 | Agency: NUWC | Role: Battery consultant | Description: He helped to determine the reasons for failure of a battery & cell design. |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
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Years: 2001 to 2003 | Country / Region: Russia | Summary: He built and tested lithium battery cells with cathode materials provided by a Russian customer. He presented a paper on the results at a professional international meeting in Russia. |
Years: 2000 to 2000 | Country / Region: Japan | Summary: He performed a marketing survey and made recommendations for advanced satellite batteries for a Japanese customer. |
Years: 1977 to 1979 | Country / Region: Canada, Norway, Scotland, Iceland | Summary: He performed trouble shooting on backup batteries for various NATO ground stations scattered around Europe and North America. |
Years: 1989 to 1991 | Country / Region: France, UK, Germany | Summary: He prepared and presented marketing information for aerospace cells and batteries to potential customers in Europe. |
Years: 1976 to 1979 | Country / Region: France | Summary: He was responsible for building and flying batteries on spacecraft for a French customer including presentations and design reviews. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
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Previous member of the ECS and ISE. Previous President of the local chapter of the ECS. |
Publications and Patents Summary |
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He has over 14 papers on batteries and battery safety. |
Additional Experience
Expert Witness Experience |
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He has been an expert witness on numerous cases in both state and federal courts. After performing his analysis and report all defendants have settled out of court. Only one deposition was necessary to accomplish these settlements. |
Training / Seminars |
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Battery applications course for NASA-Kennedy through the University of Alabama. Battery applications course for aircraft power system subcontractor. The sole Battery Safety Course instructor for NASA. |
Vendor Selection |
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He has over 40 years experience in dealing with customers and vendors in both the commercial and governments markets. |
Marketing Experience |
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He has worked with lithium based cells and batteries for more than 40 years. |
Other Relevant Experience |
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He is familiar with numerous battery designs and interfaces with both government and commercial applications over wide power, energy, and environmental ranges. Project work: 2018-2022 - Worked with a major corporation on developing and testing new Lithium-ion batteries for their various devices. This included: Testing and evaluation of their cell designs Testing and evaluation of their safety circuit(s) Cell X-rays and cell disassembly to determine quality control Evaluation of the Vendors assembly procedures Safety testing of prototype cells Final Report 2019-2022 - Analyzed Lithium-ion battery failures in a company that makes several models of portable computers. This included: Failure analysis of the reasons for the failure taking into account the mechanical, thermal, and electrical interfaces of the batteries of the computer(s). Analyzing the cell, battery, and safety circuits of the various batteries and interfaces. Making recommendations on design modifications to improve safety and reliability of the cells and batteries. Evaluating the computer for possible design flaws which could lead to battery failures. Final report Note: The Model that had the initial battery problem, where recommendations were made and followed, has not had a failure since the recommended modifications were performed - approximately 4 years ago and continuing. Recommendations have been made on a 2nd computer design and interfaces as well but Vendor changes are still in process. Numerous venting Lithium-ion cell and battery cases for failure analysis for both plaintiff and defense attorneys. |
Language Skills
Language | Proficiency |
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French | He has knowledge of the French language but hasn't needed to use it for a long time. |
Fields of Expertise
battery failure, lithium battery, lithium battery accident investigation, lithium battery testing, lithium polymer battery, lithium-ion battery, nickel-cadmium battery, nickel-hydrogen battery, aerospace battery, battery technology, artificial cardiac pacemaker battery, lithium battery safety, electric battery testing, nickel-metal hydride battery, rechargeable lithium battery, design for environment, solid-electrolyte battery, aerospace vehicle, sodium-sulfur battery, primary battery, artificial cardiac pacemaker