Battery Management and Battery Modeling Considerations for Application in a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

Transitioning from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to electric vehicles (EVs) consolidates and relocates emissions, endeavoring to improve air quality, particularly in high traffic urban areas. Unfortunately, many obstacles to widespread EV use remain, broadly related to user familiarity, convenience, and effectiveness. However, EVs are better suited for some opportunities. Following the introduction, this thesis covers the process of upgrading a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) from lead-acid batteries to a swappable battery pack consisting of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), or LFP, cells. Although LFP cells are considered safer than other lithium-ion cells, a new battery charger and battery management system (BMS) were installed to ensure proper function and maintenance. While the new electronics appeared to be successfully integrated during initial testing, several cells within the battery pack were over-discharged—or underwent voltage reversal—while outside during winter. Thus, prompted a reassessment of battery management practices and implementation, resulting in the construction of a new battery pack and redesign of the charge and discharge controls. The ensuing chapter pertains to battery management practices employed in the vehicle—and battery management in general. This chapter begins with background, wherein discusses fundamentals of cell function, modes of failure, and lastly, methods of obviating failure and protracting cell longevity. Finally, chapter four describes battery modeling from the perspective of a tool to maintain cells in EVs. Determination of immeasurable states that are important to battery management and consumer comfort are deliberated. Mathematical models and equivalent circuit models of cell behavior are of particular interest. Common equivalent circuit models are parameterized for several cells and voltage estimation capabilities are compared

Metal Oxide Photoelectrodes for Water Decontamination

The goal of this project was to develop visible-light activated photoelectrodes using metal oxides to decontaminate water. Some metal oxides used in the production of these photoelectrodes are unstable, so a secondary goal to establish protective outer coatings to be used in tandem with the metal oxides arose. WO3 and BiVO4 were identified as efficient and effective metal oxides to be used in the development of photoelectrodes, as well as NiO and CoO in the use of the protective coatings

Detection of IDH1 using colorimetric LAMP.

Pink colorimetric results denote a negative result, while yellow indicates a positive result. (1) Non-template control, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa gDNA (NTC), (2) Negative template control (NC), (3) hgDNA, (4–11) varying concentrations of synthetic wildtype (WT) and mutant (MT) DNA. Results are representative of 3 or more experimental runs performed by >3 technicians.</p

Peptide nucleic acid suppresses amplification of wildtype IDH1 at copy numbers below 5.0X10⁵.

Samples 1–14 contain increasing copy numbers ranging from 6.0X104 to 1.0X106 wildtype synthetic DNA. Samples above 6.0X105 were positive both colorimetrically and electrophoretically. Importantly, all samples without a color change showed no evidence of amplification via gel electrophoresis. These results are representative of two experiments. (TIF)</p

Specific detection of IDH1-R132H MUT using CPNA-LAMP.

Pink colorimetric results denote a negative result, while yellow indicates a positive result. All reactions contain PNA. (1) Non-template control (NTC), (2) Negative template control (NC), (3) hgDNA, (4–11) varying concentrations of synthetic wildtype (WT) and mutant (MT) DNA. Results are representative of 3 or more experimental runs performed by >3 technicians.</p

Patient-derived tumor lysates processed with 0.4 M NaOH.

Alkaline tissue digest was performed for 5 minutes, and lysates were subsequently diluted 1:100 then added to each LAMP reaction at either 2.5 uL or 5.0 uL. Samples 1 and 3 utilize patient sample number 1 (wildtype, Table 1) while samples 2 and 4 utilize patient sample number 3 (mutant, Table 1). (TIF)</p

A time-lapse of CPNA-LAMP yields unambiguous detection of the IDH1 R132H mutation at 55 minutes.

Lanes 1–4 do not contain PNA while lanes 5–8 contain PNA. Odd samples contain IDH1 wildtype synthetic DNA while evenly numbered samples contain IDH1-R132H mutant synthetic DNA. The presence of PNA in the reaction delays colorimetric changes by approximately 10 minutes. Positive results become visually interpretable at 45 minutes, then unambiguous by 55. Higher copy number of DNA results in an earlier and more vibrant colorimetric change. Importantly, at 55 minutes, when there is no colorimetric changes present in samples containing wildtype template, there is no evidence of amplification as shown by gel electrophoresis. (TIF)</p

Amplification of IDH1-R132C using colorimetric LAMP.

(1) Non-template control, (2) WT at 5.0X104 copies, (3) IDH1-R132H at 5.0X104 copies, (4) IDH1-R132C at 5.0X104 copies, (5) WT at 5.0X105 copies, (6) IDH1-R132H at 5.0X105 copies, (4) IDH1-R132C at 5.0X105 copies. (TIF)</p