Ecoult UltraBattery^® Research Laboratory

Ecoult has a dedicated UltraBattery^® Research Laboratory in Sydney, Australia. Ongoing tests estimate and certify the longevity of the UltraBattery^® technology in applications associated with management of intermittent power, such as:

• photovoltaic and wind farm smoothing and ramp rate management
• grid ancillary services (frequency regulation)
• dual-purpose energy storage applications

The laboratory is also investigating several different cell technologies: UltraBattery^® cells, Advanced Carbon and valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) gel control cells (in total, 168 cells).

Ecoult is characterising the longevity of UltraBattery^® cells through accelerated testing. To validate the ability to accelerate test throughput for shortened battery life testing, different cycling power profiles of 4–12 hours duration are applied to the test cells.

The accelerated testing is currently at the equivalent of three years of 100% duty energy smoothing workload. So far, the test UltraBattery^® shows no loss of capacity. Based on trends in the data and thermal acceleration factors, Ecoult estimates that UltraBattery^® cells will last for at least 4.5–6 years at 100% duty smoothing. This means that UltraBattery^® would last for more than 10 years when used for typical renewable energy smoothing duty.

Accelerated Lifecycle Tests at Ecoult’s UltraBattery® Research Laboratory

Ecoult Research Laboratory Features

• 14 test stations, based on Australian-manufactured Selectronic power converters
• 12 UltraBattery^® test cells, 24 V per test station
• All cell voltages and four sample cell temperatures logged per station
• 25 °C temperature control
• Hydrogen and smoke detectors – alarms and power shutdown
• Continuous forced ventilation

The UltraBattery^® Research Laboratory is partly funded by the Australian government, under their ClimateReady program.