Background
The Porticos new product development team worked with NantEnergy™ to re-engineer a groundbreaking battery cell. This product is ideal for numerous applications including “banking up” solar or wind energy, mission-critical communications infrastructure, and remote installations. among others. The underlying technology is inexpensive, robust, and easy to deploy. Packaging that electrochemistry into a usable, modular product requires inspiration and expertise.
Challenges
The Porticos team started by evaluating a previous generation of the battery cell, a briefcase-sized assembly with numerous structural, thermal, and fluidic requirements. That older version had deficiencies that were impeding adoption and growth and was somewhat expensive to produce. Porticos enumerated the opportunities for improvement, brainstormed potential enhancements, and proposed a plan to achieve a superior version. Cost reduction was high on that list.
Several rounds of engineering analysis were used to demonstrate that the new product design would meet all technical objectives. The analysis also confirmed that the product was not over-designed, which helped to minimize the cost of the deployed product. Porticos worked with NantEnergy™ to fabricate and validate the components and working assembly.
Outcomes
NantEnergy™ was so pleased with the success of the battery cell program that they retained Porticos to address another challenge. The Zinc-Air cells are typically grouped into cabinets. Many applications require these cabinets to be deployed in cold environments. Porticos used sophisticated simulation to develop a strategy for a cost-effective cabinet, employing a thermal design that facilitates efficient and reliable operation even at bitterly cold temperatures.
