Sheffield team develops new method for determining battery health

The technique - which uses ultrasonic waves to probe s battery’s internal structure - could be used to identify battery problems much earlier, before they reach the point of no repair, helping to extend their life cycles, reduce electronic waste and the demand for new batteries that use critical raw materials.

Published as part of a study in the Journal of Energy Storage, The new method could be used by manufacturers to help them spot battery defects during production - reducing the number of faulty batteries reaching consumers - and be used during servicing to provide a more accurate assessment of a battery’s health.

The team from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Mechanical Engineering developed the technique by using a single ultrasonic wave to reverse engineer a lithium-ion battery cell for the first time.

Currently, the main way to accurately assess the internal condition of a lithium-ion battery is by using an x-ray machine, which is expensive and impractical for businesses, manufacturers and consumers. This means defects can be missed and not identified until the battery shows visible damage, such as swelling, which is often when the battery is beyond repair.