12 research outputs found
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Advanced technology development program for lithium-ion batteries : thermal abuse performance of 18650 Li-ion cells.
Li-ion cells are being developed for high-power applications in hybrid electric vehicles currently being designed for the FreedomCAR (Freedom Cooperative Automotive Research) program. These cells offer superior performance in terms of power and energy density over current cell chemistries. Cells using this chemistry are the basis of battery systems for both gasoline and fuel cell based hybrids. However, the safety of these cells needs to be understood and improved for eventual widespread commercial application in hybrid electric vehicles. The thermal behavior of commercial and prototype cells has been measured under varying conditions of cell composition, age and state-of-charge (SOC). The thermal runaway behavior of full cells has been measured along with the thermal properties of the cell components. We have also measured gas generation and gas composition over the temperature range corresponding to the thermal runaway regime. These studies have allowed characterization of cell thermal abuse tolerance and an understanding of the mechanisms that result in cell thermal runaway
The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760
Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies.
This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies.
The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component.
The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better.
The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer.
At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional
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FreedomCAR :electrical energy storage system abuse test manual for electric and hybrid electric vehicle applications.
This manual defines a complete body of abuse tests intended to simulate actual use and abuse conditions that may be beyond the normal safe operating limits experienced by electrical energy storage systems used in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The tests are designed to provide a common framework for abuse testing various electrical energy storage systems used in both electric and hybrid electric vehicle applications. The manual incorporates improvements and refinements to test descriptions presented in the Society of Automotive Engineers Recommended Practice SAE J2464 ''Electric Vehicle Battery Abuse Testing'' including adaptations to abuse tests to address hybrid electric vehicle applications and other energy storage technologies (i.e., capacitors). These (possibly destructive) tests may be used as needed to determine the response of a given electrical energy storage system design under specifically defined abuse conditions. This manual does not provide acceptance criteria as a result of the testing, but rather provides results that are accurate and fair and, consequently, comparable to results from abuse tests on other similar systems. The tests described are intended for abuse testing any electrical energy storage system designed for use in electric or hybrid electric vehicle applications whether it is composed of batteries, capacitors, or a combination of the two
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Abuse tests on sealed lead-acid batteries
Abuse tests were conducted on the lead-acid batteries used to power electrical testers used at the Department of Energy's Pantex Plant. Batteries were subjected to short circuits, crushes, penetrations, and drops. None of the observed responses would be a threat to nuclear explosive safety in a bay or cell at Pantex. Temperatures, currents, and damage were measured and recorded during the tests
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Safety testing of 18650-style Li-Ion cells
To address lithium-ion cell safety issues in demanding power applications, electrical and thermal abuse tests were performed on 18650 sized cells. Video and electrically monitored abuse tests in air included short circuit, forced overcharge, forced reversal, and controlled overheating (thermal) modes. Controlled overheating tests to 200 C were performed in a sealed chamber under a helium atmosphere and the gases released from the cell during thermal runaway were analyzed at regular intervals using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. In addition to alkane and alkene solvent breakdown fragments, significant H{sub 2} was detected and evidence that HF was evolved was also found