Battery thermal run-away and combustion prevention system

Abstract

A device for preventing thermal run-away in a battery. The device includes a main compartment that is divided into a plurality of sub-compartments. A layer of material separates (i) a first sub-compartment containing a first chemical from (ii) a second sub-compartment containing a second chemical. In the event that a thermal run-away event is either detected or predicted, the layer of material degrades/is degraded and allows the chemicals to mix. The chemicals form an endothermic process that cools the battery, which at least delays the thermal run-away event. The device determines a delay period before thermal runaway is likely to occur and communicates that to a user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device for preventing thermal run-away in batteries, the device comprising:
 a plurality of endothermic devices arranged in a pattern with a plurality of power storage devices;   one or more switches incorporated into an electrical circuit between the power storage devices and one or both of (i) a charging device that charges the power storage devices and (ii) a power consuming device that draws stored power from the power storage devices;   one or more computer processors;   one or more computer readable storage medium;   program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising:
 program instructions to determine respective temperatures of the power storage devices; 
 program instructions to activate at least one endothermic device of the plurality of endothermic devices in response to a determination that a temperature of a given power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices exceeds a threshold that indicates a potential thermal run-away event for the given power storage device, wherein the at least one endothermic device abuts the given power storage device; 
 program instructions to activate at least one of the one or more switches to electrically disconnect the given first power storage device from one or both of (i) the charging device and (ii) the power consuming device in response to the determination that the temperature of the given power storage device exceeds the threshold; 
 program instructions to determine a predicted amount of delay before the potential thermal run-away event is likely to become an actual thermal run-away event; and 
 program instructions to communicate the amount of delay to a user associated with the given power storage device by sending an electronic message to a computing device of the user in response to the determination that the temperature of the given power storage device exceeds the threshold.