Batteries are a part of our everyday lives. They store energy in a chemical form and can be charged, discharged and reused. With increasing emphasis on greener technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles, more electric aircraft and renewable energy generation, battery technology becomes more important.

In their various applications, careful monitoring of the temperature and voltages of each battery cell is crucial to life and energy storage capacity of the battery pack. Battery overheating is a main concern during repeated cycles of charging and discharging. Conventional cooling techniques such as air cooling or liquid cooling are inefficient. As the coolant passes over the battery cells, the fluid gradually warms up and its effectiveness to cool subsequent batteries deteriorates. Operating battery cells at different temperatures make them respond differently to dis/charging cycles, limiting the dis/charging rates and the energy storage capacity. NEVAC addressed this problem by developing a novel evaporative cooling strategy which promises a step improvement in battery cooling technology.

This project was led by the Institute of Aerospace Technologies in collaboration with Abertax Kemtronics.

Dr Robert Camilleri was awarded the 'Intellectual Property Award – Emergent Innovator: 31 years old and over for Technological Initiative' at the 2021 Malta Intellectual Property Awards for the work carried out in the NEVAC project.