Sponsored by Intertek.
Identifying the root cause of a problem
Failure analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing data to identify the root cause of a failure. The findings from a failure analysis are often used to determine corrective actions such as preventing the failure of similar products, improving the design of future products or to address liability claims. Independent third-party assistance is often sought during this process for expert advice, support of legal issues, or simply to obtain a neutral third-party perspective.
The challenge of battery failure analysis is to unambiguously identify the problem’s root cause. Fundamentally, the failure can be traced to battery/cell failure, device failure (external to the battery), or failure of the battery management control system which is either integrated into the battery itself or is a separate circuitry designed into the device. A battery or cell failure may be performance (e.g. the lifetime of the battery is not up to the specification), safety (e.g. a cell/battery overheating), or leakage related (e.g. the electrolyte starts to leak from the cell container).
In this white paper, Intertek’s experienced energy storage team gives an overview of the techniques and methods used in battery failure analysis.
