Michael Fowler

• University of Waterloo

Lithium-ion batteries experience degradation with each cycle, and while aging-related deterioration cannot be entirely prevented, understanding its underlying mechanisms is crucial to slowing it down. The aging processes in these batteries are complex and influenced by factors such as battery chemistry, electrochemical reactions, and operational co...

This review examines the aging mechanisms and performance decline of lithium-ion batteries under various conditions, focusing on temperature effects, charge/discharge efficiency, and operational limits. It covers high-temperature aging and its impact on the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, as well as thermal runaway risks. Low-temperature...

Metal–air batteries represent a category of energy storage system that leverages the reaction between metal and oxygen from the atmosphere to produce electricity. These batteries, known for their high energy density, have attracted considerable attention as potential solutions for extending the range of electric vehicles. Understanding the capabili...

Thermal management is a crucial parameter in lithium-ion batteries to maintain the temperature of the batteries within safer working limits. If the optimum working temperature is not maintained, it triggers thermal runaway conditions and causes them to propagate heat from one cell to another within pack level configurations. In battery thermal pack...

Battery failures, although rare, can significantly impact applications such as electric vehicles. Minor faults at cell level might lead to catastrophic failures and thermal runaway over time, underscoring the importance of early detection and real-time diagnosis. This article offers a concise yet comprehensive review and analysis of the mechanisms...

Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) have gained much attention as promising energy conversion devices due to their ability to utilize alcohol as a fuel source. In this regard, Molybdenum-based electrocatalysts (Mo-ECs) have emerged as a substitution for expensive Pt and Ru-based co-catalyst electrode materials in DAFCs, owing to their unique electroc...

Li-ion batteries (LiBs) are widely adopted in electric vehicles (EVs) owing to their superior properties, such as high energy density, low discharge rate, long lifespan, and lightweight construction. Since the battery pack is the sole energy source for an EV, its performance is critical for optimal vehicle operation. However, the battery's calendar...

div>The production of alternative clean energy vehicles provides a sustainable solution for the transportation industry. An effective battery cooling system is required for the safe operation of electric vehicles throughout their lifetime. However, in the pursuit of this technological change, issues of battery overheating leading to thermal runaway...

In the context of global advancements, the imperative of a sustainable energy supply looms large. Biomass, an adaptable and renewable resource, has garnered attention for its potential contributions, although economic uncertainties persist due to the intricate web of processing pathways. In response, the biorefinery concept emerges as a structured...

High current rate charging causes inevitable severe heat generation, thermal inconsistency, and even thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries. Concerning this, a liquid cooling plate comprising a multi-stage Tesla valve (MSTV) configuration with high recognition in microfluidic applications was proposed to provide a safer temperature range for a pr...

In the view of the thermal runaway scenario phase change material are not capable to withstand thermal propagation phenomenon, hence it is important to provide a novel structure which can delay thermal runaway trigger point and not allows generated heat to propagate at faster rate from one cell to another. In this work, a series of numerical invest...

In this paper, we propose an optimization model that considers two pathways for injecting renewable content into natural gas pipeline networks. The pathways include (1) power-to-hydrogen or PtH, where off-peak electricity is converted to hydrogen via electrolysis, and (2) power-to-methane, or PtM, where carbon dioxide from different source location...

Battery temperature greatly affects its electrical performance and safety. In this work, the thermal characteristics of a hybrid solid-liquid battery (referred to as solid-state battery) were systematically studied for the development of future battery thermal management systems (BTMS). The battery resistance characteristics were investigated by pe...

Road traffic is a significant source of air pollution that has a harmful impact on human health. To reduce the health and environmental impacts of fossil fuel consumption in the transportation sector, many countries have implemented policies to promote the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs). A vital factor to consider when designing policies to...

This paper presents three equivalent thermal circuit models with multiple input parameters, namely, the state of health (SOH), state of charge (SOC), current and temperature. Typical physiochemical models include parameters such as porosity and tortuosity, which are not easily experimentally available; this model allows for model parameters such as...

Electric vehicle (EV) drivers require reliable distance to empty (DTE) indication to plan their trips. In the current study, feed forward neural networks based soft sensors were designed to accurately predict DTE in a Ford Escape EV. The proposed DTE soft sensors were trained on actual drive cycle data and rated DTE using Levenberg Marquardt, Bayes...

Electric scooters are increasingly popular for short‐distance commuting. To improve the thermal safety, performance, and lifespan of their batteries, their heat needs to be managed. This study proposes a method for optimizing the air channels in a scooter battery pack. It includes an electro‐thermal‐degradation model for predicting the battery's el...

In this article, a low expansion electrode particle is investigated for mechanical stresses during lithiation with intrinsic and extrinsic factors included. The stress states are estimated with local deformation, concentration dependent properties, and external constraints. It is observed that lithiation of an unconstrained electrode particle lead...

In this paper, an analogous study of the velocity and temperature profiles inside microchannel cooling plates (with hydraulic diameter of 6 mm), placed on a large pouch-type LiFePO4 battery, is presented using both the laboratory and simulation techniques. For this, we used reverse engineering (RE), computed tomography (CT) scanning, Detroit Engine...

Flying car is an effective transport to solve current traffic congestion. The power batteries in flying cars discharge at a high current rate in the takeoff and landing phase, evoking a severe thermal issue. Flat heat pipe (FHP) is a relatively new type of battery thermal management technology, which can effectively maintain the temperature uniform...

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have been utilized increasingly in recent years in various applications, such as electric vehicles (EVs), electronics, and large energy storage systems due to their long lifespan, high energy density, and high-power density, among other qualities. However, there can be faults that occur internally or externally that a...

Rechargeable Li-ion batteries are widely used in renewable energy storage and automotive powertrain systems, and therefore an efficient thermal management system is imperative for maximum battery life and safety. Battery heat generation and dissipation rates primarily depend on the battery surface temperatures, which are effected by the coolant sys...

Lithium-ion battery pack is widely used in electric vehicles (EVs), for which reasonable heat dissipation measures must be taken to keep battery working in a suitable temperature range. Liquid cooling is popular for its efficient heat dissipation performance. In order to evaluate the effect of layout and channel design of cooling plates on the heat...

Energy storage plays an important role in the adoption of renewable energy to help solve climate change problems. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are an excellent solution for energy storage due to their properties. In order to ensure the safety and efficient operation of LIB systems, battery management systems (BMSs) are required. The current design...

This study establishes a resistance-based thermal model for the battery cooled by the heat pipe. Unlike the traditional thermal model, the proposed battery thermal model includes the influence of the battery temperature, state of charge (SOC) and current on the heat generation in the battery body. Moreover, it also integrates the heat generation in...

Energy storage system based on batteries is a key to achieve green industrial economy and the online estimation of its status is critical for the battery management system. Therefore, this paper proposed a distributed spatial-temporal online correction algorithm for state of charge (SOC) -three-dimensional state of temperature (SOT) co-estimation o...

AC pulse heating is a promising preheating method for lithium-ion batteries due to its low energy cost and high efficiency. To avoid the lithium plating in the AC heating, upper bound of heating current (UBHC) should be obtained. In this paper, the dual RC model is developed, and coupled with the thermal model to predict the battery temperature and...

The optimization of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack usage has become essential due to the increasing demand for Li-ion batteries. Since degradation in Li-ion batteries is inevitable, there has been some effort recently on research to maximize the utilization of Li-ion battery cells in the pack. Some promising concepts include reconfigurable batte...

This paper discusses the quantitative validation carried out on a prismatic 20 Ah LiFePO4 battery sandwiched between two minichannel cold-plates with distributed flow having a single U-turn. A two-way coupled electrochemical-thermal simulations are performed at different discharge rates (1–4 C) and coolant inlet temperatures (15–35 °C). The predict...

Lithium-ion battery, the indispensable part of electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles because of their high energy capacity and power density but usually suffer from a high temperature rise due to heat generation within a battery. This heat generation is mainly a function of the state of charge and charge/discharge rate. A passive technique...

The equivalent circuit model (ECM) is a battery model often used in the battery management system (BMS) to monitor and control lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The accuracy and complexity of the ECM, hence, are very important. State of charge (SOC) and temperature are known to affect the parameters of the ECM and have been integrated into the model ef...

The proliferation of electric vehicle (EV) technology is an important step towards a more sustainable future. In the current work, two-layer feed-forward artificial neural-network-based machine learning is applied to design soft sensors to estimate the state of charge (SOC), state of energy (SOE), and power loss (PL) of a formula student electric v...

In this paper, we present a detailed comparison study on the prediction accuracy by two different and simplified battery models, namely Lumped and Li-ion (1D electrochemical) model, for a prismatic 20Ah LiFePO4 battery sandwiched between minichannel cold-plates with distributed flow. A two-way coupling between the battery model (Li-ion/Lumped) and...

Clustering is an unsupervised machine learning method with many practical applications that has gathered extensive research interest. It is a technique of dividing data elements into clusters such that elements in the same cluster are similar. Clustering belongs to the group of unsupervised machine learning techniques, meaning that there is no info...

With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs), the demands for rechargeable and high-performance batteries like lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have soared. Li-ion battery systems require the use of a battery management system (BMS) to perform safely and efficiently. Accurate and reliable battery modeling is important for the BMS to func...

Fossil fuel vehicles, emitting air toxics into the atmosphere, impose a heavy burden on the economy through additional health care expenses and ecological degradation. Air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths and chronic and acute health problems every year, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The fossil-fuel-based...

In this paper, the design and performance of an energy hub to supply the demands of heating, cooling, electricity and freshwater for a coastal urban is considered. The modeling framework considers exergy and economic factors as well as greenhouse gas emissions. To optimally meet the demands of the energy hub, the consumed energy flows and their exc...

This article includes a sensitivity analysis of a rolling stock hydrogen hybrid powertrain using different power splitting scenarios based on the load’s frequency contents. The model used for this purpose mimics the dynamics of a hydrogen hybrid powertrain from the component scale. The simulated powertrain consists of five different subsystems incl...

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are an important component of energy storage systems used in various applications such as electric vehicles and portable electronics. There are many chemistries of Li-ion battery, but LFP, NMC, LMO, and NCA are four commonly used types. In order for the battery applications to operate safely and effectively, battery m...

To ensure optimum working conditions for lithium-ion batteries, a numerical study is carried out for three-dimensional temperature distribution of a battery liquid cooling system in this work. The effect of channel size and inlet boundary conditions are evaluated on the temperature field of the battery modules. Based on the thermal behavior of disc...

Greenhouse gas emissions from the freight transportation sector are a significant contributor to climate change, pollution, and negative health impacts because of the common use of heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDVs). Governments around the world are working to transition away from diesel HDVs and to electric HDVs, to reduce emissions. Battery electr...

A shift towards a "hydrogen economy" can reduce carbon emissions, increase penetration of variable renewable power generation into the grid, and improve energy security. The deployment of hydrogen technologies promises major contributions to fulfilling the economy's significant energy needs while also reducing urban pollution emissions and the over...

The enrichment of natural gas with hydrogen has been identified as a promising pathway for power-to-gas technology with the potential to reduce emissions while achieving feasible return on investment. The evolving regulatory market in the province of Ontario motivates the analysis of business cases for hydrogen on the industrial microgrid scale. Th...

Emissions from the transportation sector are significant contributors to climate change and health problems because of the common use of gasoline vehicles. Countries in the world are attempting to transition away from gasoline vehicles and to electric vehicles (EVs), in order to reduce emissions. However, there are several practical limitations wit...

The temperature and heat produced within lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is an important field of research as it affects the power, voltage, and degradation of the battery. Models that quickly and accurately predict the temperature and voltage based on operating conditions can prevent thermal runaway, increase charging speed, prevent lithium plating,...

Laser‐scribed carbonization of polyimide (PI), also known as laser‐induced graphene (LIG), has been used to fabricate flexible and conductive traces on polymer films. With the assistance of electrical tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectrometry, a systematic procedure, was used to investigate the effect of laser operating param...

Emissions from the transportation sector due to the consumption of fossil fuels by conventional vehicles have been a major cause of climate change. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are a cleaner solution to reduce the emissions caused by transportation, and well-designed HEVs can also outperform conventional vehicles. This study examines various pow...

The temperature and heat produced by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in electric and hybrid vehicles is an important field of investigation as it determines the power, performance, and cycle life of the battery pack. This paper presented both laboratory data and simulation results at C-rates of 1C, 2C, 3C, and 4C at an ambient temperature of approxi...

The demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is on the rise because of the increase in usage of electric vehicles (EVs) and other electrified applications. The battery management system (BMS) plays an important role in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the battery. In order for the BMS to function and manage the battery pack effectively,...

The transportation sector has been the largest contributor to emissions and pollution in Canada. Climate and public health have been negatively affected by the consumption of fossil fuels by conventional vehicles. The rollout of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) has not yet occurred due to a conundrum. Specifically, a refueling infrastructure is...

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a significant contributor to global warming and climate change. It is a harmful greenhouse gas with an impact 28 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Preventing methane leakage from transmission pipelines and other oil and gas production activities is a possible solution to redu...

This paper applies a mixed integer linear programming model developed in GAMS to simulate the integration of Power-to-Gas infrastructure into an industrial manufacturer's energy system subject to the existing thermal and electrical energy demands, as well as a third hydrogen energy profile. This work is novel in that it assesses the challenges and...

Clustering is an unsupervised machine learning technique with many practical applications that has gathered extensive research interest. Aside from deterministic or probabilistic techniques, fuzzy C-means clustering (FCM) is also a common clustering technique. Since the advent of the FCM method, many improvements have been made to increase clusteri...

Emissions and pollution from the transportation sector due to the consumption of fossil fuels by conventional vehicles have been negatively affecting the global climate and public health. Electric vehicles (EVs) are a cleaner solution to reduce the emission and pollution caused by transportation. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are the main type of...

Power-to-gas is an energy storage and vector technology which can utilize off-peak power, assist in the integration of renewable power and provide needed fuel for industry and transportation. Further, power-to-gas is a useful technology for balancing surplus baseload and renewable energy generation with demand. There are numerous applications of po...

The investigation and improvement of the cooling process of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) used in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are required in order to achieve better performance and longer lifespan. In this manuscript, the temperature and velocity profiles of cooling plates used to cool down the large prismat...

The electrification of heat supply is a widely discussed strategy for decarbonizing the heat sector in the Great Britain (GB). This impacts the electricity load duration curve and affects the optimal mix of power generation technologies. Additionally, the price of electricity and the emission from the grid determine whether the electrified heat is...

The usage of Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has increased significantly in recent years due to their long lifespan, high energy density, high power density, and environmental benefits. However, various internal and external faults can occur during the battery operation, leading to performance issues and potentially serious consequences, such as the...

This work aims at developing a game theory model for assessing the potential of fuel cell-powered and battery-powered forklifts for reducing GHG emissions in the province of Ontario, Canada. Two stakeholders are considered in the developed model: government and energy consumer. The energy consumer, which is assumed to be an industrial facility, ope...

Development and implementation of energy hubs present a viable means of transitioning towards distributed and renewable energy generation and conversion technologies. Particularly in the residential sector, implementation of an energy hub infrastructure increases the resiliency of the local system against grid failures and provides economic and env...

With the increase in usage of electric vehicles (EVs), the demand for Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is also on the rise. The battery management system (BMS) plays an important role in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the battery in EVs. Sensor faults in the BMS can have significant negative effects on the system, hence it is important t...

The maximum concentration of hydrogen that can be commingled with or blended in natural gas has been a topic of discussion for many years. The reasons for blending hydrogen with natural gas are mainly two-fold; to improve the renewable content of natural gas, and to utilize the existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen distribution....

The concept of energy hubs has grown in prominence as a part of future energy systems, driven by the spread of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and the inception of the smart grid. This paper systematically reviews 200 articles about energy hubs, published from 2007 to 2017, and summarizes them based on their modeling approach, planning and oper...

This work assesses the potential of surplus electricity in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the building sector. The assessment is done by modelling the interaction of government and energy consumer using game theory. The government can provide discounted power to energy consumer by covering a fraction of the off‐peak price to encourage t...

Power-to-Gas (PtG) is a potential means of managing intermittent and weather-dependent renewable energies to create a storable chemical energy form. Power-to-Gas is not only a storage technology; its role can be extended to many other applications including energy distribution, transportation, and industrial use. This study quantifies the hydrogen...

A hydrogen rail (hydrail) powertrain is conceptualized in this study, using drive cycles collected from the trains currently working on the Union Pearson Express (UPE) railroad. The powertrain consists of three preliminary different subsystems: fuel cell, battery, and hydrogen storage systems. A backward design approach is proposed to calculate the...

Natural gas is the most promising fossil fuel in the transition to a low-carbon energy future, and many countries have long term plans to increase its share in their energy supply mix through pricing regulations. While these policies encourage substitution of natural gas with more polluting fossil fuels, its over consumption and inefficient use can...

A device that can derive electrical power from the wastewater treatment process is highly desirable and would help to address both the issues of environmental conservation and energy production. A novel flow-photocatalytic fuel cell (flow-PFC) was designed, using a burr-like Ag-TiO 2 coated photoanode, as a promising alternative to microbial fuel c...

A power grid with a lower global warming impact has the potential to extend its benefits to energy systems that conventionally do not utilize electricity as their primary energy source. This study presents the case of Ontario where the role of complementing policies in transitioning electricity systems is assessed. The policy cost to incentivize su...

This study assesses the feasibility of using H 2 -containing streams, such as biomass gasification product gas, as a source of H 2 for the thermocatalytic conversion of CO 2 to renewable natural gas (RNG). A heat-exchanger type, molten salt-cooled membrane reactor is analyzed using a transient mathematical model that accounts for dynamic catalyst d...

Power‐to‐gas (PtG) is an evolving energy storage technique that can transfer surplus and intermittent renewable generated power into a marketable hydrogen, among other ancillary services for the electrical grid. This study provides a comparative assessment of blending 10% corn‐ethanol and using an electrolytic hydrogen supply via PtG on the well to...

Long-term planning for replacement of fossil fuel energy technologies with renewables is of great importance for achieving GHG emission reduction targets. The current study is focused on developing a five-year mathematical model for finding the optimal sizing of renewable energy technologies for achieving certain CO2 emission reduction targets. A m...

Vehicle electrification increases the fuel efficiency of the transportation sector while lowering emissions. Eventually, however, electric vehicle batteries will reach their end-of-life (EOL) point, when the capacity of the battery is insufficient for operating a motor vehicle. At this point, the battery is typically removed for recycling. This tre...

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with large emissions occurring across gas distribution networks and mining/extraction infrastructure. The development of inexpensive, low-power electrochemical sensors could provide a cost-effective means to carry out distributed sensing to identify leaks for rapid mitigation. In this work, we demonstrate a simple...

This chapter reviews the modeling and optimization efforts in natural gas network systems, with attention to blending natural gas from various sources under steady‐state conditions. The mixing of natural gas from diverse sources, with different quality specifications, leads to a mixed‐integer nonlinear programming formulation for the problem, which...