Multifunctional composite with printed sensors

Battery management system (BMS) is a critical component for electric and hybrid electric vehicles (EV) as it determines the battery efficiency and safety of application. The continuous in situ temperature monitoring is critical in order to ensure the safe and efficiency operation of the battery system for electric vehicles. The use of multi-functional composite as the battery enclosure not only improves the mechanical properties with further reduction of the weight for electric vehicles, but also implements integrated sensing capabilities for monitoring purpose. This paper reports the use of Dimatix inkjet printer (DMP-2850) to print thermal temperature sensors on composite battery enclosure to achieve integrated in situ monitoring of battery temperature. The thermal temperature sensors are first printed on resin coated Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and then the printed sensors are co-cured with glass fiber prepreg to achieve multifunctional composite for sensing. This result demonstrates a new method to integrate composite with printed sensors, without the need of adding discrete and bulky sensor systems, and the printed temperature sensor can compare with commercially available Pt thermal resistance temperature sensors.