Dr. Stefan Andreas Meyer
Whitemark Technology GmbH
Day 3 (November 7, 2024)
3:20 p.m.
Titanium
Immersion-cooled batteries with integrated heat exchanger -
A new chapter in battery design
As batteries have become significantly safer and cheaper in recent years, the next challenge is to improve their lifespan, fast-charging capability and recyclability. This new challenge not only affects all of us who use electric vehicles, but has also been highlighted in the current Fraunhofer roadmap (Fraunhofer LIB Roadmap, December 2023).
To achieve progress in this field, efficient thermal management becomes paramount, and although immersion cooling is undoubtedly the best technology available to achieve this goal, it has also faced numerous problems such as increased complexity, higher costs and unreliability, which hinder its commercial breakthrough.
In my presentation, I will explain the challenges of good thermal management by discussing two solutions on the market: one with immersion cooling and one with more conventional cold plates. In this context, I will then introduce Whitemark's new immersion-cooled battery and show how it addresses these challenges through a number of innovations. By using standardized industry components (26650 cylindrical cells) and leveraging proven industry processes (laser welding), we are able to combine the excellent efficiency of immersion cooling with the cost efficiency demanded by the market.
In my presentation, I would also like to introduce the consortium behind Whitemark (including the two automotive suppliers Helmut Hechinger GmbH and EJOT) and explain our next steps on the way to series production.
Curriculum vitae
My passion is physics, and I did my Master of Science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland before moving to New Zealand to start a PhD program in spectroscopy. In New Zealand, I built my first battery as part of a project to convert a Honda HRV into a plug-in hybrid vehicle. During this project, I discovered that batteries are actually a great platform to explore many areas of physics: Mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electromagnetism, electrochemistry, electronics and more.
This is what fascinates me about them, and my vision is to develop affordable battery designs that take all these aspects into account to enable faster charging and a longer service life. I think these two features will be critical to making the switch from gasoline to electric cars. They are also the features that are best addressed by immersion cooling. From New Zealand, I returned to Munich to become part of the leadership team at TUM's Automotive Institute (FTM) where I worked on electric cars, and from there it was on to Kreisel Electric where I found my interest in immersion-cooled batteries, which eventually led to me founding Whitemark.