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Battery modelling and control experts gather in Oxford

First battery modelling symposium attracted 170 delegates and speakers, from 14 countries

Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019, Pembroke College

Over 170 battery modelling researchers and industry professionals from 14 countries gathered at Pembroke College recently for the inaugural Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium, organised by Professor David Howey of the University of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science along with Professor Charles Monroe, and Professors Colin Please and Jon Chapman of the Maths Institute.

Over the two days of the conference, oral presentations from world-renowned experts began at the atomistic length scale before moving to continuum models and finally to control-oriented approaches. The programme also included a poster session covering topics ranging from battery pack sizing and design considerations, through optimising lithium-ion cell design for plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles, to electrical energy storage management for low carbon grids.

Eminent electrochemical modelling expert Professor John Newman, whose group in the 1990’s developed a widely used continuum model for lithium-ion batteries, gave the keynote on Monday 18 March. He discussed results from mathematical modelling of battery systems in the context of achieving low-cost electrochemical energy storage, one of the most difficult technical and manufacturing challenges of our time.

A second keynote on day two was delivered by Professor Gregory Plett (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs), who reviewed physics-based models required to compute state-of-charge, state-of-health, available energy, and available power in battery management systems. He showed how such models can be simplified for embedded implementation using standard linear-algebra and signal-processing methods, whilst preserving reasonable accuracy.

Speaker Anna Stefanopolou (William Clay Ford Professor and Director of the Energy Institute at the University of Michigan) presented her work decoding electrode swelling for advanced battery diagnostics. She noted that lithium-ion cells are a bit like people, being picky about temperature, fussy about external pressure, and diverse, occurring in many different shapes and sizes.

The symposium had a very high standard and all the presentations were very interesting and informative. I hope there will be more symposiums in the coming years.

Attendee comment

The popularity of the symposium’s subject matter was reflected in the number of high profile academic and industry representatives who attended. Researchers from universities in China, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden as well as the UK and United States joined industry delegates from companies including Siemens, Continental, Renault, PSA, BMW, Aston Martin, Williams Advanced Engineering, Johnson Matthey, and Comsol, providing excellent networking opportunities.

Professor Howey says, “We initiated the event to bring together some of the many experts and practitioners working in this field, so that we could learn from each other and discuss best practice. It was great to see so many familiar faces from our industrial and academic collaborations. My hope is that we can make this a regular event, to continue all the incredibly valuable information-sharing and networking that started at OBMS2019”.

A full list of speakers is given below – abstracts and biographries available here

Twitter moment of the Symposium

Energy and Power Group

 

Full Programme

DAY 1

Session 1: Atomistic to continuum modelling (chair Jon Chapman)

  • Anton Van der Ven, University of California Santa Barbara – “Connecting electronic structure to phenomenological continuum models of electrochemical processes”
  • Denis Kramer, University of Southampton – “Mind the Gap –Towards an atomistic understanding of battery materials interfaces”
  • Manuel Landstorfer, Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics – “Modeling porous intercalation electrodes with continuum thermodynamics and multi-scale asymptotics”

Session 2: Continuum modelling (chair Charles Monroe)

  • Keynote: John Newman, University of California Berkeley – “Electrochemical energy storage”
  • Charles Delacourt, Laboratoire de Réactivité et de Chimie des Solides, France – “Modeling of high-energy-density graphite electrodes
  • Bob McMeeking, University of California Santa Barbara – “Redox kinetics, interface roughening and solid electrolyte cracking in solid state lithium-ion batteries”

DAY 2

Session 3: Continuum to control modelling (chair Colin Please)

  • Martin Bazant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – “Control of battery phase transformations by electro-autocatalysis”
  • Göran Lindbergh, KTH Royal Institute of Technology – “An extended porous electrode model for NMC111 in lithium-ion batteries”
  • Monica Marinescu, Imperial College London – “Physically-informed models for improved cell design and operation of lithium-sulphur cells”
  • Troy Farrell, Queensland University of Technology – “A Padéapproximant model of lithium ion batteries”

Session 4: Control oriented modelling (chair David Howey)

  • Keynote: Gregory Plett, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs – “Physics-based reduced-order models of lithium-ion cells for battery management systems”
  • Anna Stefanopoulou, University of Michigan – “Decoding the electrode swelling for advanced battery diagnostics”
  • Scott Trimboli, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs – “Model predictive control using physics-based models for advanced battery management
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Keynote speaker at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Poster presentations at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Poster Presentation at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Delegates at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019
Poster presentation at the Oxford Battery Modelling Symposium 2019