SK On opens new battery development centre in Seosan
Battery cell manufacturer SK On has opened a 3,400 square metre battery safety centre next to its factory in Seosan, South Korea. In future, cells, modules and packs will be tested there under extreme conditions.
At the new SK On Battery Safety Evaluation Centre, which will be completed with all its testing equipment by the end of October, the company will conduct safety tests in various scenarios for battery cells, modules, packs and stationary energy storage systems. These will involve extreme cold and heat, among other things.
SK On writes the new centre will enable it to reproduce safety tests in areas such as vibration, external shocks, thermal runaway, short circuits and overcharging. In addition, non-destructive analysis methods such as computer tomography are available, but the batteries can also be disassembled into their constituent parts for detailed examination.
SK On expects the centre to increase the efficiency of its battery research, as all tests and analyses relevant to battery safety can now be carried out in a single building, saving time and money. Previously, the company could conduct module-level tests at the Daejeon facility, then had to send the components to external partners for CT scans before they arrived back at the lab to be disassembled.
SK On does not give details of the individual test rigs in the statement. Instead, the Koreans emphasise that the entire building (with the exception of some offices) was built explosion-proof “to avoid damage from fire tests”.
“SK On now has the country’s top-level battery safety evaluation facility,” Seo Hyung-kwon, SK On Vice President in charge of quality solutions, said. “We will research and conduct a variety of tests beyond the scope of normal battery safety warranties and beef up our competitiveness.”
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