New funding from the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) will advance five projects from across U of T Engineering, with applications ranging from sustainable aviation to next-generation electric vehicle battery systems.
Two of the five projects are based at U of T Engineering’s Thermal Management Systems (TMS) Laboratory and focus on improving the way battery systems handle heat, as well as developing lightweight structural battery pack components.
“Whether they are being used for electric vehicles or for stationary energy storage systems that reduce strain on the grid, lithium-ion batteries are transforming the way we use electricity,” says Carlos Da Silva, Senior Research Associate at the TMS Lab and Executive Director of U of T’s Electrification Hub.
“Unfortunately, today’s batteries are still sensitive to temperature: if they get too cold or too hot, it can degrade their performance and even present safety risks. We are working on new technologies that make batteries more resilient to thermal fluctuations.”