Panasonic develops high energy lithium-ion battery module

ntttttttttttt

Panasonic Corp has developed a 1.5 kWh battery module from 18650-type (18 mm in diameter x 65 mm in length) lithium-ion battery cells, which are widely used in laptop computers, to provide energy storage solutions for a wide range of environmentally friendly energy technologies.

For example, multiple units can be connected in series and/or parallel to store energy generated by home-use photovoltaic (PV) systems and fuel cells, and power electric vehicles (EV). A prototype of the new module will be shown at CEATEC JAPAN 2009 (Makuhari Messe, October 6-10, 2009) and New Energy Industry Fair Osaka (Intex Osaka, October 7-9, 2009).

Amid rising environmental concerns such as CO2 emissions, great expectations are placednon widespread use of renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaics andncommercialization of electric vehicles to alleviate the concerns. However, thesentechnologies require storage systems to become commonplace in daily life.

Among annumber of energy storage technologies, storage systems using lithium-ion batteries innparticular are considered promising and practical, because such systems are lighter andnhave greater capacity than those using other types of rechargeable batteries.nAs applications of the storage systems using lithium-ion batteries increase, there will arisendemand for such systems with higher capacity, output, reliability and safety as well asnimproved cost performance. Flexibility in voltage and capacity will also be requirednaccording to the application.

Panasonic’s compact and high-energy battery module meets such demands. The modulenhaving a volume of approximately 7 L and weighing 8 kg has a voltage of 25.2 V and ancapacity of 58 Ah. By connecting a plurality of this module, users can construct batterynpacks for a variety of applications such as home electricity storage and electric vehicles.

The high-energy module is constructed from 140 pieces of 18650-type lithium-ion batteryncells – seven serially connected rows with each row made of 20 parallel connected batteryncells. This structure allows for avoiding serious loss in the system performance such asnsystem shutdown even if some individual cells fail.