It’s a story all too familiar—cells overheating, causing thermal runaway, putting companies in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Despite these risks, we rely on batteries to power everything from our cell phones to electric vehicles to military munitions and downhole drilling equipment. Safety starts with battery insulators.
Thin wall die-cut pressure-sensitive parts made of flame retardant films or papers provide excellent protection on or between cells. Depending on the material used, up to 15 Kv protection can be achieved. Dielectric shrink sleeves are also custom-designed for the cylindrical, pouch, or prismatic cells and can provide up to 5Kv protection for each cell. Products can be supplied in high or low shrink versions and can be supplied as a sleeve or a pouch. Alternative non-shrink materials can also be used to provide extreme temperature and flame resistance.
Products can be fabricated to custom shapes and have thermal conductivity as low as .13 W/mK. Materials can be supplied with pressure-sensitive adhesives or laminated to another insulating material. Electrolock also provides flame retardant thermal sleeves, designed to be applied directly over cylindrical cells that provide excellent thermal and flame resistance.
With extremely limited space for insulation protection, what are the best options for reducing cell-to-cell flame spread? How can the extreme heat from one cell be limited in spreading to the adjacent cells? How do you stop the chain reaction of thermal runaway once a single cell vents or ruptures?
Electrolock supplies various thermal runaway insulation materials, like battery insulation wraps and sleeves and our Go-Therm Thermal Runaway Barrier, that limit the spread of flame and heat during a thermal runaway event. As with all of our insulation material choices, our engineers try to understand the requirements of your specific battery pack and try to choose the best options for testing in the limited space available. These materials can be a combination of flame and thermal barriers or strictly a thin wall, flame resistance part. After you test and approve the material options, we can provide the finished parts fabricated to the required dimensions.
We work with our customers’ engineering group to define all the requirements that the battery insulator needs to meet, then choose the correct materials to maintain safe performance.
Attention to detail during each step of the insulation design phase. We design finished parts that will process in your equipment, perform exactly to specification, and meet your cost requirements.
Every battery pack is different. Each pack is designed specifically for its intended application. Therefore, each battery pack has different requirements for insulation placement and performance. This is where Electrolock can help. Finding the right materials for dielectric protection and thermal runaway and supplying the materials so that they fit in the limited insulation space in the pack is our specialty. We try to understand all the specific requirements of your battery application before choosing a material for testing. Dielectric strength, flame resistance, thermal protection all play a role in choosing the best material. Limited space requirements also determine the materials of choice. Electrolock engineers try to understand all of these requirements and then submit the best material options for testing.
We have a vast library of material options and are not limited to any specific material choice. Once materials are approved by the customer, we can then provide the finished parts for use in the production of the packs.