A123 Systems Case Study AnalysisEssay Preview: A123 Systems Case Study AnalysisReport this essayA123 SystemsHistory of Lithium-Ion BatteriesRechargeable battery evolution accelerated as the world transitioned to instruments enabled by silicon microchip technology from those of bulky electrical components. Mobile devices were designed to be powered by lightweight energy storage systems. The development of batteries for this rapidly evolving market was challenging:
•The nickel cadmium battery had been the only option for modern electronics for many years. It was a great improvement over carbon batteries.•Later, nickel-hydride batteries became the technology of choice.•Lithium-ion batteries became available in the 1990s, offering higher energy densities. This technology won out nickel-hydride.The lithium-ion rechargeable battery offered advantages that were previously unavailable:•Lithium is the lightest of all metals•It had the largest electrochemical potential•It provided the greatest energy content per unit volume•It had no memory effect•Its energy leakage rate was less than half that of NiCd and NiMH•The first of its type was developed by Sony in 1990 with enough cycles to be usable for rechargeable batteriesMass production took place in 1991Panasonic and Sanyo quickly developed similar batteries that were on the market by 1994Big advances in a mature industry like batteries were hard to find. Advances in the field focused only on finding slightly better materials or thinning the layers to improve performance.
Pre-A123 Systems: History of Lithium-Ion battery InnovationPre-A123 research groupProfessor Yet-Ming Chiang directed a mid-sized research group at MIT that focused on design, synthesis and characterization of advanced inorganic materials; particularly toward electromechanically and electrochemically active materials. These materials can be defined as being capable of converting electrical energy into mechanical work, and of converting chemical energy into electrical work.
Chiang’s group began researching better lithium cathode materials in the mid-1990s. By early 2000, the group began wondering if there might be a new way to push the thickness limitations of battery cells. The wondered if battery layers could form themselves based on the Hamaker Constant for Different Materials. Materials in this case are very small particles. The Hamaker Constant is the measure of force between materials.
Hamaker Constant applied to designing an innovative battery systemChiang describes how this related to the challenge of revolutionizing battery technology:•“…the Hamaker Constant can have a negative value and cause two materials (particles) to repel each other if immersed in the right medium… we discovered and designed materials systems that organized themselves into an electrolyte separator between the anode and cathode.” (p.453 text, p.5 case study)
Chiang’s basic concept was a key part of a self-organizing colloid concept. His main idea was that he could tailor the forces between materials constituting the battery, deriving a self-assembly process to make a practical battery on a dimensional scale never before possible. The thickness of the separator layer could be as small as a few molecules, with the resulting batteries able to be fabricated in any shape or size. Designing a system of battery materials with a negative Hamaker Constant between anode and cathode was very difficult. Chiang’s team needed to discover a low-index material and a high-index material with key characteristics:
•The right optical characteristics•Both anode and cathode materials must conduct electrons•Both must be lithium hostsSelf-Assembling Materials System DevelopmentChiang’s team mixed methylene iodide, lithium percholate, polystyrene, graphite particles and lithium-iron phosphate particles as a dispersion and poured it into a mold. Copper was chosen as the anode current collector. Aluminum coated with a conducting polymer that has a low index of refraction was used to connect to the cathode particle network. It attracted the lithium-iron phosphate particles.
Creation of A123 as an Early Stage Company/ Financial InfoRic Fulop was a serial entrepreneur with many key contacts who had been involved in many start-ups. Howard Anderson was the founder of the venture capital firm “Yankee Tek” and a lecturer at MIT Sloan School. He had previously funded two of Fulop’s previous ventures and gave him office space to be an “entrepreneur in residence” while he sought his next venture.
Fulop began investigating innovations in the battery industry and discovered Chiang’s research lab. He was enthused by the self-organizing battery concept and the opportunity for a battery with four times the energy density of the available lithium-ion technology that could be charged one hundred times faster.
Both Chiang and Fulop decided that the new venture would be an early stage company dedicated to further development of the self-assembly battery. They brought on Bart Riley as the R&D leader (he had spent 11 years at Chiang’s company “Superconductor”). A123 negotiated an exclusive license to the key patent filings from Chiang’s lab with MIT’s technology and licensing office. A123 put together the first round of financing of $8.3 M in December 2002 (Northbridge Ventures, Sequoia, Sparta Group, Yankee Tek and MIT’s Venture Fund). Four months later, an additional $4m was raised from Motorola and Qualcomm, both incredible technology companies and users of lithium-ion batteries. Howard Anderson
The patent of the self-assembling power source, described in the original patent application, describes the invention and uses in-house technology that, with the benefit of being able to charge a battery from either a 3 or a 12 volt power source. The battery is a 10 amp charger with a battery pack of 50 micro-watt diodes. The batteries are connected by a single copper ribbon plug that generates a 5 ohm voltage to power the circuit, and when set up, discharge from the charging port to the battery pack that is connected by the plug’s 2 ohm terminal. In other words, the charge can be accomplished using an 8 ohm power output on 1/2 x 25 Ohm or 24 ohm on the other end, depending on the type of power source.
The inventor of the battery, Howard Anderson, a 33 year old Electrical Engineer, who graduated from Northbridge’s “A” School in 2001, developed several of his high quality Li-ion Lithium, Li-manganese, Ni-Manganese, Ni-Gold, Ni-Polymer, Li-polymer, Ti-Manganese, and Ti-Manganese (also known as TiO2 or Li-O2Ni); which are widely used in electronics, automotive, industrial applications, refrigeration, and other applications. Anderson was a member of the R-18A C.E.O. (Commercial Engineering) Group consisting of Bruce C. Mello and David M. Wilson (now Professor of Engineering) and Mike M. Young, the Vice President of Systems Engineering, to develop an improved Li-Polymer LiMo Lithium.
The inventor of the battery, Howard Anderson, a 33 year old Electrical Engineer, who graduated from Northbridge&s’s&8220: School in 2001, developed several of his high quality Li-ion Lithium, Li-manganese, Ni-Manganese, Ni-Gold, Ni-Polymer, Li-polymer, Ti-Manganese (also known as TiO2 or Li-O2Ni); which are widely used in electronics, automotive, industrial applications, refrigeration, and other applications. Anderson was a member of the R&:#1-18A C.E.O. (Commercial Engineering) Group consisting of Bruce C. Mello and David M. Wilson (now Professor of Engineering) and Mike M. Young, the Vice President of Systems Engineering, to develop an improved Li-Polymer LiMo Lithium.
The inventor of the battery, Howard Anderson, a 33 year old Electrical Engineer, who graduated from Northbridge&s’: School in 2001, developed several of his high quality Li-ion Lithium, Li-manganese, Ni-Manganese, Ni-Gold, Ni-Polymer, Li-polymer, Ti-Manganese (also known as TiO2 or Li-O2Ni); which are widely used in electronics, automotive, industrial applications, refrigeration, and other applications. Anderson was a member of the R:#4-15A C.E.O. (Commercial Engineering) Group based at Northbridge &s‚#6-13A C.E.O. (Military Engineering) Group. Also, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gave him permission to continue the research on the LiPo cell system, he was allowed access to test a range of new LiMonosynthium Nanotubes (LNTs) while at the same time obtaining the patent rights to the LiPowered cells and LiPo cells from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The inventor of the battery, Howard Anderson, a 33 year old Electrical Engineer, who graduated from Northbridge&s’: School in 2001, developed several of his high quality Li-ion Lithium, Li-manganese, Ni-Manganese, Ni-Gold, Ni-Polymer, Li-polymer, Ti-manganese
Anderson was originally the owner and operator of a company called A123, located in Northbridge, NY. He was also the Chief Technology Officer for A123’s commercial battery products, including the company’s LiPo batteries, the A123LiPo cell and the A123LiPo LiPo cell.
In addition in 2004 A123 and its wholly owned subsidiary, A123A123 was bought out by Nokia Technologies for around £5M. A123 was not an original product and there are some significant concerns regarding the safety of our Li-Polymer LiCo-Metric (Lmmet) batteries as it has some potential health concerns. Nokia’s products often contain certain ingredients that have certain safety issues. On the other hand the Li-Manganese LiPo cell and its battery pack provide a significant number of LiMo Metric Lithium