NextFlex News – January 2022
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I hope this letter finds you well despite the continued uncertainty ahead with COVID-19. In response to shifting conditions, we’ve opted to make our March meetings hybrid, meaning that we will have many of the presentations available online if travel restrictions continue to prevent folks from joining us in person at NextFlex. This is extremely important as we strive to include as many participants as possible, particularly for the PC 7.0 proposers and teaming events planned as part of the proceedings. For more information and to register to attend, please visit our website. The symposium is scheduled for March 1-3.
Great news! A NextFlex-funded technical paper won distinction at next week’s IPC-APEX Expo in San Diego, CA. The Auburn Team, led by Professor Pradeep Lall, has won “Honorable Mention” for their paper entitled, “Reliability SoH Degradation and Life Prediction of Thin Flexible Batteries Under Flex-to-Install Dynamic Folding, Dynamic Twisting and Battery Lamination.” Dr. Lall, Ph.D., will be on hand to present the paper that was co-authored by Ved Soni, Jinesh Narangaparambil, and Hyesoo Jang of Auburn University and Dr. Scott Miller of NextFlex. The work presented in the paper was conducted in PC5.6, “Accelerated Testing and Degradation Mechanisms for Flexible Batteries to Enable Selection-guidelines Comparing Performance and Reliability.” The technical paper focuses on thin flexible power sources and studies the degradation on the state-of-health under static and dynamic stresses of daily motion that may be encountered in flexible hybrid electronics. Power sources that can sustain the stresses are needed to achieve FHE applications capable of dynamic-flexing, folding, flex-to-install and twisting. Reliability data and life-prediction models are presented for lithium-ion batteries less than 1mm thick, which is necessary to realize thin-flexible form-factors. Dr. Lall, along with other NextFlex members GE Research, Lockheed Martin, WPI, Binghamton University, and Dr. Alex Cook from NextFlex will be speaking in two NextFlex-organized sessions at APEX next week on Thursday, January 27th, with both sessions moderated by Dr. Nick Morris, FHE Technology Manager at NextFlex. If you’re attending IPC-APEX, please stop by the sessions to say hello.
I’m excited about our progress and our plans for 2022. Don’t hesitate to reach out with your great ideas and if there’s anything we can do to help you.
Sincerely,
Malcolm J. Thompson, PhD