Dragon Q Energy’s (DQE) battery container is a fit-for purpose, large-format stationary storage device designed for grid and micro-grid stationary storage applications. We view this housing as “fit for purpose” in that cost, safety, and environmental impact are prioritized. This may sound like an intuitive goal for stationary storage, but it is actually not the standard. According to the EIA, over 90% of operational large scale battery storage utilize a lithium-ion chemistry. These typically take the form of thousands of small cells (such as cylindrical 18650’s designed for mobility applications) stuffed in a white box. Effectively, cells designed for consumer electronics and electric vehicles are strung together to form massive packs and modules. “Fit for mobility” formats are being incorrectly applied for stationary storage. This is done as a matter of commercial convenience; these small cells are already produced at scale for other applications. However, they are not well suited for large scale energy storage, being unreliable, expensive, and prone to catching fire.
DQE has identified that the benefits of both pressure and electrode compression can address the issues of reliability, price, and safety, but the implementation of pressure as a “controlled thermodynamic knob” has been limited to academic literature. A suitable and scalable platform has yet to be developed. This is the vision for DQE’s container. Ultimately, we view our system as a platform which can be applied to numerous battery chemistries, and perhaps other electrochemical cells (i.e. fuel cells) in the future. Initially, we have focused on improving energy, power, cycle life, safety, and recyclability of large format, intercalation based rechargeable batteries, focusing on LFP cathodes coupled with graphitic anodes. Our fit for purpose housing will leverage compression and pressurization to improve safety and performance of these materials in large scale systems.
Beyond performance, our container is engineered with sustainability and recyclability in mind. First, the container itself can be disassembled via removal of the end caps. Modular electrode retainers can then be removed, enabling the materials to be recycled and the container itself to be reloaded with fresh electrodes. This provides for easy adoption of novel chemistries as battery materials progress and can also allow the housing itself to have an extraordinarily long operational life (50+ years).
Additionally, our system can enable thick format, free standing electrodes compressed onto current collectors, as the high level of stack compression will provide good interparticle and interfacial contact with the current collector, metrics which are currently achieved via ultra-thin (50-100 um) electrodes blade coated directly onto current collectors. The standard, coated electrodes are difficult to separate from current collectors at end of life, complicating recycling. Free standing, thick format electrodes enable easy disassembly and facilitate recycling (as well as lower upfront cost via reduction of ancillary components such as current collectors and separators).
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