Yinjiao (Laura) Xing, Research Staff, CALCE

Bio: Dr. Yinjiao (Laura) Xing is a Research Staff at CALCE. She received a Ph.D in Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (2014) at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, a M.S. in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (2010) and also a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering (2007) at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. Her research focuses on battery system monitoring, modelling and failure analysis for the purpose of improvement of battery system reliability and operational performance. In addition, she is also interested in prognostic methods on degradation-related products or systems. During her Ph.D period, Dr. Xing has published 10 articles on the above mentioned areas, and presented her research at international conferences and workshops.

Abstract: Electronic nicotine delivery systems, also referred to as “e-cigarettes”, have become popular as an alternative to traditional tobacco products. However, the increased number of e-cigarette incidents have compelled government and health to concern battery safety because e-cigarette is a battery-powered device. Numerous Li-ion battery fire incidents have been reported in applications ranging from aviation to electric vehicles, hoverboards, smartphones, and e-cigarettes. Defective and substandard batteries can enter the e-cigarette market through either authorized manufacturers who did not employ sufficient quality checks or through unauthorized retailers and suppliers who may be deliberately selling mis-labeled or poor quality batteries, in some cases including defective, substandard, degraded, and damaged batteries. This presentation will discuss e-cigarette explosion cases associated with such batteries and present case studies on inspection of counterfeit batteries using X-ray computed tomography scan technique.