Patents Examined by Robert S Carrico
  • Patent number: 11527750
    Abstract: A main object of the present disclosure is to provide an active material whose volume variation due to charge and discharge is small. The present disclosure achieves the object by providing an active material comprising a primary particle including at least one crystal phase of a Type I silicon clathrate and a Type II silicon clathrate, and the primary particle includes a void inside thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Daichi Kosaka, Jun Yoshida, Tetsuya Waseda, Takamasa Otomo
  • Patent number: 11515540
    Abstract: A graphene foam-protected selenium cathode layer for an alkali metal-selenium cell, comprising: (a) a sheet or a roll of solid graphene foam composed of multiple pores and pore walls containing graphene sheets, wherein the graphene sheets contain a pristine graphene material having less than 0.01% by weight of non-carbon elements or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.01% to 20% by weight of non-carbon elements, wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, boron-doped graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof, wherein the graphene sheets are interconnected or chemically merged together without an adhesive resin; and (b) selenium coating or particles residing in the pores or bonded to the pore walls of the solid graphene foam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Global Graphene Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Hui He, Aruna Zhamu, Bor Z. Jang
  • Patent number: 11492288
    Abstract: A glass coating composition for a fuel cell gasket is described. The coating comprises: a glass component effective to form an alkaline solution in the presence of an equivalent amount of water by weight, a binder component, a liquid carrier which is greater than 50% by volume: water, and a retarder effective to inhibit hardening of the composition. The glass coating composition is particularly useful in fuel cell gaskets and provides improved resistance to solidification in an aqueous dispersion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Flexitallic Investments, Inc.
    Inventor: John Ashworth
  • Patent number: 11462743
    Abstract: Batteries having a metal interlayer that acts as an ion conductor are provided, as well as methods of forming the same. The metal interlayer can include, for example, palladium, platinum, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, gold, silver, or a combination thereof, and can act as a conductor while also inhibiting the transport of other species that would produce byproduct films and cause capacity degradation in the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: THE FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
    Inventor: Bilal M. El-Zahab
  • Patent number: 11462737
    Abstract: A binder composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery electrode contains a water-soluble polymer including, in a proportion of at least 0.1 mass % and not more than 20 mass %, a monomer unit derived from a monomer represented by general formula (1): CH2?C(R1) —C?O—NH—R2—OH (R1 is hydrogen or an alkyl group and R2 is (CHR3)n(O(CHR3)m)l[n=1 to 10; m=1 to 4; 1=0 to 3; and R3 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having a carbon number of 1 to 4]).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: ZEON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenya Sonobe, Yusuke Adachi
  • Patent number: 11444296
    Abstract: A membrane humidifier has multiple stacking units mounted one on top of the other, where an individual stacking unit includes a flow plate and diffusion unit, where a circumference of the diffusion unit is formed by two oppositely situated first edge sides and two oppositely situated second edge sides. The diffusion unit includes: a top layer on a top side of the diffusion unit, a bottom layer on a bottom side of the diffusion unit, a moisture-permeable membrane, two oppositely situated upper receiving elements at the two first edge sides, on the top side of the diffusion unit, and two oppositely situated lower receiving elements at the two second edge sides, on the bottom side of the diffusion unit, where the flow plate of the stacking unit is inserted into the two lower receiving elements, and where the next stacking unit is inserted into the two upper receiving elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Marc Becker, Thomas Hoefler, Hubert Wimmer
  • Patent number: 11411245
    Abstract: Electrolyte for a solid-state battery includes a body having grains of inorganic material sintered to one another, where the grains include lithium. The body is thin, has little porosity by volume, and has high ionic conductivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Michael Edward Badding, Zhen Song, Jacqueline Leslie Brown, Jennifer Anella Heine, Thomas Dale Ketcham, Gary Edward Merz, Eric Lee Miller, Cameron Wayne Tanner, Conor James Walsh
  • Patent number: 11362330
    Abstract: A composite positive active material represented by Formula 1, LiaNibCocMndMeO2??Formula 1 wherein, in Formula 1, M is zirconium (Zr), aluminum (Al), rhenium (Re), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), gallium (Ga), silicon (Si), boron (B), ruthenium (Ru), titanium (Ti), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), magnesium (Mg), or platinum (Pt), 1.1?a?1.3, b+c+d+e?1, 0?b?0.3, 0?c?0.3, 0<d?0.6, and 0?e?0.1, wherein, through atomic interdiffusion of lithium and the metal, the composite positive active material has a uniform distribution of lithium excess regions and a uniform degree of disorder of metal cations, and the metal cations have a disordered, irregular arrangement at an atomic scale. Also a method of preparing the composite positive active material, a positive electrode including the composite positive active material, and a lithium battery including the positive electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., POSTECH ACADEMY-INDUSTRY FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Donghee Yeon, Byoungwoo Kang, Junghwa Lee, Byungjin Choi, Sukgi Hong, Jinsu Ha
  • Patent number: 11355805
    Abstract: Provided is a battery pack having an improved temperature control performance. The battery pack includes a plurality of battery modules including at least one secondary battery therein and spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and a bridge member including a heat conductive material and configured to receive heat generated from at least one battery module by being disposed in contact with at least two battery modules among the plurality of battery modules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventor: Jin-Kyu Lee
  • Patent number: 11355825
    Abstract: A battery pack and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, a battery pack in which a heat dissipation member is attached to a protection element assembly to reduce heat generated from the battery pack when being discharged and a method for manufacturing the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: LG Energy Solution, Ltd.
    Inventors: Jin Oh Yang, Seog Jin Yoon
  • Patent number: 11355755
    Abstract: A carbonaceous material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, having an average interplanar spacing d002 of the (002) plane within a range of 0.36 to 0.42 nm calculated by using the Bragg equation according to a wide-angle X-ray diffraction method, a specific surface area within a range of 8 to 30 m2/g obtained by a nitrogen adsorption BET three-point method, a nitrogen element content of 0.5 mass % or less, an oxygen element content of 0.3 mass % or less, and an average particle diameter of 1 to 2.8 ?m according to a laser scattering method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: KURARAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Kawakami, Takafumi Izawa, Taketoshi Okuno, Jun-Sang Cho, Hideharu Iwasaki
  • Patent number: 11329311
    Abstract: A lithium-sulfur battery comprises a cathode electrode comprising from 80% to 100% lithium polysulfide based on the total weight of sulfur adsorbed at the cathode when the lithium sulfur battery is fully charged, and a high specific surface area electrically conductive material. An anode electrode comprises lithium. A porous and electrically insulating membrane is provided between the cathode and the anode electrodes. An electrolyte is adsorbed into and between cathode electrode, the anode electrode, and the membrane. A cathode current collector is electrically connected to the cathode and an anode current collector is electrically connected to the anode. A porous and electrically conductive interlayer can be provided between the membrane and at least one selected from the group consisting of the cathode and the anode. A method of making a battery is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.
    Inventors: Jian-ping Zheng, Chao Shen
  • Patent number: 11316150
    Abstract: Disclosed is a positive electrode for a lithium secondary battery, which includes: a positive electrode current collector; and a positive electrode active material layer including an upper layer portion and a lower layer portion, wherein each of the upper layer portion and the lower layer portion of the positive electrode active material layer includes a positive electrode active material, binder polymer and a conductive material, and the positive electrode active material has an electroconductivity of 0.0001-0.0004 S/cm, and the content of the conductive material contained in the lower layer portion is 10-59 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the content of the conductive material contained in the upper layer portion, or the positive electrode active material has an electroconductivity of 0.008-0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Inventors: Hye-Bin Kim, Jung-Seok Choi, Song-Taek Oh
  • Patent number: 11309566
    Abstract: An electrolyte solution tank has a tank body, an electrolyte solution supply part, and electrolyte solution drain part and a flow guide mechanism. The electrolyte solution supply part supplies the electrolyte solution into an interior chamber in the tank body. The electrolyte solution is drained from the tank body to the outside of the tank through the electrolyte solution drain part. The flow guide mechanism is arranged in the interior chamber of the tank body. The flow guide mechanism guides the flow of the electrolyte solution in the interior chamber to the electrolyte solution drain part along a vertically downward direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Atsushi Nakajima
  • Patent number: 11296318
    Abstract: The present invention provides a positive electrode active material for an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery, an electrode, and an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery capable of smoothly exchanging lithium ions with a solid electrolyte at a positive electrode and improving battery performance. A positive electrode active material for an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery formed of particles includes crystals of a lithium metal composite oxide, in which the lithium metal composite oxide has a layered structure and contains at least Li and a transition metal, and the particles have an average crush strength of more than 50 MPa and satisfy Expression (1). 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Takuya Kadowaki, Jun-ichi Kageura, Chikara Murakami
  • Patent number: 11239508
    Abstract: A battery pack includes: a cell stack; a first duct and a second duct configured to feed cooling air toward the cell stack; and a housing case. The first duct and the second duct extend in a first direction and are spaced apart from each other in a second direction, the first direction being parallel to a front-back direction of a vehicle in a mounted state in which the battery pack is mounted on the vehicle, the second direction being parallel to a width direction of the vehicle in the mounted state. The first duct is arranged on an outer side of the cell stack on one side in the second direction, and the second duct is arranged on an outer side of the cell stack on the other side in the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuma Asakura, Shigeyuki Inoue, Hirotaka Watanabe, Yasuyuki Takei, Yusuke Kuruma
  • Patent number: 11239469
    Abstract: A hybrid lithium-ion battery/capacitor cell comprising at least a pair of graphite anodes assembled with a lithium compound cathode and an activated carbon capacitor electrode can provide useful power performance properties and low temperature properties required for many power utilizing applications. The graphite anodes are formed of porous layers of graphite particles bonded to at least one side of current collector foils which face opposite sides of the activated carbon capacitor. The porous graphite particles are pre-lithiated to form a solid electrolyte interface on the anode particles before the anodes are assembled in the hybrid cell. The pre-lithiation step is conducted to circumvent the irreversible reactions in the formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) and preserve the lithium content of the electrolyte and lithium cathode during formation cycling of the assembled hybrid cell. The pre-lithiation step is also applicable to other anode materials that benefit from such pre-lithiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Zhe Li, Xiaochao Que, Haijing Liu, Jingjing Wu, Dave G. Rich, Saad Hasan
  • Patent number: 11228056
    Abstract: A process for fabrication of a battery that includes providing a colloidal suspension of particles conducting lithium ions and providing two conducting substrates as battery current collectors, at least one surface of the conducting substrates being at least partially coated with one of a cathode film and an anode film, and depositing an electrolyte film by electrophoresis, from a suspension of electrolyte material particles, on at least one of said anode film, said cathode film and said conducting substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: I-TEN
    Inventors: Fabien Gaben, Frédéric Bouyer, Bruno Vuillemin
  • Patent number: 11223059
    Abstract: Method and power plant comprising a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) for production of electrical energy and H2 gas. The power plant is charged with a feed gas selected from the group consisting of natural gas, bio-gas and syngas. The feed gas, prior to being fed to the SOFC, is reformed in a reformer with a CaO containing CO2 absorber, thereby producing a carbon free H2 gas as feed for the SOFC while converting CaO to CaCO3. The latter is regenerated to CaO in an endothermic reaction in a CaO regenerator at a temperature of at least 850° C. utilizing heat from the SOFC to heat the regenerator. A heat exchange medium collects heat in the SOFC and is subjected to further temperature increase in a heating device before being subjected to heat exchange in the CaO regenerator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: ZEG POWER AS
    Inventors: Björg Andresen, Arne Raaheim, Julien Meyer, Nicola Di Giulio, Öystein Ulleberg
  • Patent number: 11217843
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an electrochemical device system including an electrochemical device and a controller. The electrochemical device includes a negative electrode capable of occluding and releasing lithium ion, a positive electrode using oxygen as a positive electrode active material and reducing oxygen during discharge, and a solid electrolyte disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode and capable of conducting lithium ion. The controller performs current control during discharge of the electrochemical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yosuke Suzuki, Kan Kitagawa, Hidehiko Hiramatsu