Performance Enhancements

Thanks to an unmatched expertise in lithium ion chemistry, Quallion has built an intellectual portfolio of patented technologies that give our batteries—and thus our customers—a competitive advantage. These enabling enhancements give our Li-ion batteries unrivaled safety and performance.

Calendar Fade/Self Discharge
Zero-Volt
SaFE-LYTE
Li Polymer

Calendar Fade/Self Discharge
Two critical performance criteria for Li-ion cells are calendar fade and self discharge. Quallion’s 5A2 chemistry has demonstrated unrivaled performance in both circumstances.

Quallion’s 15 Ahr LEO and GEO satellite cells have demonstrated 95% calendar life retention capacity after 500 days at room temperature storage. Notably, these cells were charged to 4.1V each time they were returned to storage.

Under more rigorous testing conditions, Quallion is conducting ongoing evaluations of its 5A2 Chemistry. After charging the test cells to 4.1V, they were placed at 37C and stored without interruption for 3.5 years. The results revealed less than 12% self discharge loss and less than 4% calendar fade loss.

Based on these results, Quallion has demonstrated a Li-ion cell with virtually no capacity fade after the first 6 months of storage. This proven capability makes Quallion’s cells ideal for long term storage and usage applications with nominal maintenace. Relevant applications currently being

	Quallion’s patented Zero Volt™ technology allows long storage periods in a deep discharged state with no permanent capacity loss due to low voltage. The ability to discharge a battery to zero volts offers a number of important advantages in many medical, space, and military applications. Most importantly, it means that batteries can be stored for long periods of time without maintenance. In addition, the charge can be completely removed when connecting batteries to volatile systems or implanting cells inside the human body. In all applications, batteries are guaranteed to function at peak capacity levels, even after long storage periods without any maintenance. This benefit is particularly valuable in some military and satellite applications, where even infrequent maintenance is not possible in some situations, and obviously offers advantages over conventional Li-ion batteries that cannot survive a deep discharge.

	With our proprietary SaFE-LYTE™ technology, Quallion has successfully found a way to enhance battery safety without any compromise in electrochemical performance. It is well known that lithium ion batteries are intrinsically less safe than other battery chemistries such as Ni-MH and lead acid, because Li-ion batteries contain a flammable non-aqueous electrolyte. For that reason, piercing and compression may cause a battery to ignite and catch fire. In recent years, hundreds of catastrophic cell phone battery failures have occurred. Concerns about this problem—and calls for innovative solutions—have grown as the energy densities and cell capacities in these batteries have increased. Quallion’s SaFE-LYTE technology integrates into the battery a liquid halogen compound that is flame-retardant and immiscible in the electrolyte. This solution significantly lowers the risk of combustion, and allows Quallion to produce batteries that are far safer than conventional Li-ion options.

	For demanding applications in the medical and electronics fields (and elsewhere), Quallion has developed lithium polymer (Li-Poly) batteries that can be safer, smaller, lighter, and especially thinner than lithium ion alternatives. Unlike lithium ion batteries, in which the electrolyte is help in an organic solvent, the lithium electrolyte is held within a solid polymer composite in Li-Poly batteries. This means a metal casing is not necessary in a Li-Poly cell, a distinction that allows more flexibility in size and shape, as well as a slightly higher energy density. This technology hold great promise for development of innovative implantable medical devices that require a power source that is very small, oddly shaped, thermally stable, and highly conductive. Li-poly cells are also uniquely qualified to sustain abuse; fact, they can withstand nail penetration while fully charged without fire or explosion. Generally speaking, lithium polymer batteries deliver performance characteristics that are comparable to cylindrical and prismatic Li-ion alternatives.