Low Temperature Cycling Performance of the SONY 18650 Hard Carbon Mandrel Cell

摘要

EnerSys/ABSL Space Products (ABSL) has extensively used Sony Corporation's 18650 hard carbon cells in the manufacturing of its space flight battery systems. Occasionally there is a need for a space battery that is capable of operating at low temperature which is below the cell manufacturer's stated operating temperature range. Low temperature cycling of the 18650 hard carbon cells has been shown to generate lithium plating within the cells resulting in potential internal shorting conditions. The generation of lithium plating is an understood phenomenon however the specific conditions under which the plating occurs has not been characterized in detail2. In this paper ABSL will provide an overview of the performance of the Sony 18650 hard carbon mandrel cell under various low temperature charging regimes. The goal of the low temperature charging of the 18650 cell was to determine the low temperature operating conditions in which lithium plating would occur, thereby establishing a lower temperature bound for use.