The institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA) of RWTH Aachen University is an integrated institute with three chairs. Prof. Rik W. De Doncker holds the chair on Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer the chair on Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage Systems. Prof. Egbert Figgemeier holds the chair of Aging Processes and Lifetime Prediction of Batteries (ALB). With more than 120 scientists, engineers and permanent staff it is the largest university institute in Germany in the field of power electronics and energy storage. ALB is integrated in the Helmholtz Institute Münster (HIMS) which is placed in between Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, RWTH Aachen University and Münster university and thus bundles the battery expertise of all three institutions. In this project, RWTH Aachen University will contribute its expertise in lifetime assessment of battery technologies and simulation. The developed technology will show new effects and behave differently compared to the state-of-the-art. That’s why ISEA will experimentally investigate the batteries lifetime with electrical testing as well as physical, chemical and electrochemical analyses of the used components. The degradation and the underlying effects mechanisms will then be implemented in a simulation which will be used to predict the lifetime under certain load conditions and to assess technical and economic use of the new chemistries. A special focus has been given to the plating of lithium metal on the anode of lithium-ion batteries which will be especially helpful in understanding the degradation effects of the used lithium metal foil.
