SENSOR: A Fiber-Optic Sensing System For Tapping Energy Systems' True Potential (Energy Storage Innovations USA 2017)

Under the ARPA-E Advanced Management and Protection of Energy-Storage Devices (AMPED) program for advanced battery management systems, PARC, GM and LG Chem Power (LGCPI) have prototyped and tested SENSOR (Smart Embedded Network of Sensors with an Optical Readout), an optically based smart monitoring system prototype for battery packs. The system uses fiber optic sensors embedded inside Lithium-ion battery cells to measure parameters indicative of cell state online, such as state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH). SENSOR is leveraging PARC's low-cost, compact wavelength-shift detection technology and intelligent algorithms to enable effective real-time performance management, optimized battery design, and improved safety. While SENSOR is initially targeting batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), it will be extendable to battery systems for other challenging domains such as aircrafts, satellites, grid storage, and military vehicles.

A global center for commercial innovation for 40 years, PARC, a Xerox Company, is a pioneer in the development and commercialization of thin film transistors, circuits, and sensors. With deep knowledge of printing technology applied in domains such as displays, image sensors, and medical sensors, PARC's technical expertise and facility support printed dielectrics, nanoparticle metals, organic, oxide, and silicon (amorphous, polycrystalline, printed nanowire) semiconductors. PARC's clients include display manufacturers, consumer electronics firms, IT companies, government agencies, and materials suppliers to the printed and flexible electronics markets.