Vacuum Gas Sampling Assembly for Low-Pressure Battery Off-Gas Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for measuring gaseous components in chemical energy storage systems, such as Li-ion batteries, face challenges including contamination, calibration errors, and inability to accurately determine absolute gas amounts, especially at low pressures and in small volumes, due to issues with gas handling and analysis techniques.
Innovation Solution
An assembly comprising a vacuum control device, a gas inlet device, and a gas control device, which allows for precise control of gas streams and pressures, enabling reliable measurement and calibration of gaseous components by evacuating and supplying gas streams to analytical instruments while minimizing contamination and error.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If gas is supplied directly from sample to analytical instrument without vacuum control, then the device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to contamination and pressure control issues
Solution Approach 1:
The gas supply system is divided into three distinct functional modules: a vacuum control device for pressure regulation and contamination prevention, a gas inlet device for sample connection and gas introduction, and a gas control device for outlet flow management. This segmentation allows each module to be optimized independently for its specific function while maintaining overall system precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum control device acts as an intermediary component between the gas sample and the analytical instrument, mediating pressure control and preventing contamination. This intermediary function enables precise measurement by isolating the sample handling from the analysis process.
2Reliability
If vacuum control is implemented to prevent contamination, then purity of gas sample is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional vacuum control components
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates reliability-critical functions (vacuum control, pressure regulation) into dedicated modules, allowing high-reliability operation in sample handling while maintaining manageable overall complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum control device creates a controlled, contamination-free environment for gas sample handling, effectively establishing an inert atmosphere that protects the sample purity and ensures reliable measurements.
3Measurement precision
If absolute gas amount determination is implemented, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to calibration requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calibration and pressure equalization actions before the actual measurement process. The vacuum control device pre-regulates pressure conditions, and the system establishes baseline parameters in advance, making the subsequent measurement operation simpler and more accurate.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes pressure parameters systematically during operation, using controlled vacuum and pressure equalization to transform the gas sample into a measurable state. This parameter control enables absolute gas amount determination while automating the process to maintain ease of operation.
4Measurement precision
If gas stream control is enhanced for low pressure measurement, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional control valves and mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
Gas stream control is segmented across three devices with dedicated control functions: vacuum control for inlet pressure, flow control for gas introduction, and outlet control for analytical instrument interface. This distribution of control functions achieves low-pressure measurement precision without concentrating excessive complexity in a single component.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables reliable measurement and calibration of gaseous components, reducing contamination risks and calibration errors, and allows for accurate determination of absolute gas amounts even at low pressures, improving the sensitivity and precision of gas analysis in chemical energy storage systems.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum control device configured for providing a vacuum
Data Source
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Figure 2b
AI summary
The present invention relates to an assembly (116) and a method (210) for supplying a gas stream (114) from a sample (118) to at least one analytical instrument (120) as well as a related computer program, a system (110) for determining at least one property of a gaseous component (112) in the gas stream (114), and a use of the system (110) for a quantitative measurement of the gaseous component (112) in the gas stream (114) released by a chemical energy storage system, especially selected from a commercial lithium-ion pouch-bag cell, a prismatic cell, or a round cell. The assembly (116) comprises - a vacuum control device (122) configured for providing a vacuum (124), having a first connection (132) to the vacuum (124), at least one first valve (134, 134') designed for adjusting the vacuum (124), and a first outlet (136); - a gas inlet device (126) configured for supplying the gas stream (114) from the sample (118) to the at least one analytical instrument (120), having a coupling element (148) designed for providing a coupling to the sample (118) for receiving the gas stream (114) from the sample (118), a second valve (156) designed for switching between the first outlet (136) and the coupling element (148), and at last one second outlet (158) for supplying the gas stream (114) as a gas input stream (160) to the at least one analytical instrument (120); and - a gas control device (128) configured for receiving a gas output stream (130) from the at least one analytical instrument (120), having at least one third valve (162, 162') designed for adjusting a pressure of the gas output stream (130), and at last one second connection (164) designed for at least one of releasing the gas output stream (130) or receiving a gas balance stream.