Thin aerogel materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11380953-B2
Application number	US-201514738193-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 23, 2014
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

The present invention provides a fiber-reinforced aerogel material which can be used as insulation in thermal battery applications. The fiber-reinforced aerogel material is highly durable, flexible, and has a thermal performance that exceeds the insulation materials currently used in thermal battery applications. The fiber-reinforced aerogel insulation material can be as thin as 1 mm less, and can have a thickness variation as low as 2% or less. Also provided is a method for improving the performance of a thermal battery by incorporating a reinforced aerogel material into the thermal battery. Further provided is a casting method for producing thin fiber-reinforced aerogel materials.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A reinforced aerogel composition comprising:
an aerogel framework and a reinforcement material, the reinforcement material comprising a fiberglass-based material, the reinforced aerogel composition having an average thickness of 10 mm or less and a thickness variation of less than 15%.

2. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , having an average thickness of about 5 mm and a thickness variation of less than 10%.

3. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 2 , having an average thickness of about 2 mm and a thickness variation of less than 6%.

4. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 3 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition is a flexible aerogel blanket composition.

5. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a thermal conductivity of about 25 mW/mK or less.

6. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 5 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a thermal conductivity of between about 12 mW/mK and about 20 mW/mK.

7. A battery comprising the aerogel reinforced composition of claim 1 .

8. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition includes a silica-based framework.

9. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a density in a range of about 0.60 g/cc and about 0.30 g/cc.

10. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of 5 mm or less.

11. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of 3 mm or less.

12. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of 1 mm or less.

13. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a thermal conductivity of about 50 mW/mK or less.

14. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a thermal conductivity of between about 12 mW/mK and about 50 mW/mK.

15. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 50%.

16. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 75%.

17. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 90%.

18. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 95%.

19. The reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 25%.

20. A method of improving performance of a battery comprising incorporating the reinforced aerogel composition of claim 1 into the battery.

21. A battery comprising an aerogel material produced by a method comprising:
(a) providing a casting surface and a casting frame, wherein an inner boundary of the casting frame encloses a casting area on the casting surface;
(b) providing a sol-gel solution;
(c) placing a fiberglass-based reinforcement material into the casting area;
(d) combining the sol-gel solution with the reinforcement material in the casting area;
(e) applying pressure to the sol-gel solution to promote spreading of the sol-gel solution through the reinforcement material in the casting area until a thickness of the sol-gel solution is the same as the thickness of the casting frame;
(f) allowing the sol-gel solution to transition into a gel material, thereby forming a reinforced gel composition; and
(g) drying the reinforced gel composition to produce a reinforced aerogel composition, wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of less than 10 mm and a thickness variation of less than 15%.

22. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of less than 5 mm.

23. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of less than 3 mm.

24. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has an average thickness of less than 1 mm.

25. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 50%.

26. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 75%.

27. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 90%.

28. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the resulting reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 95%.

29. The battery of claim 21 , wherein the reinforced aerogel composition has a resilience of more than 25%.

Assignees

• Aspen Aerogels Inc

Inventors

• Evans Owen Richard
• Zafiropoulos Nicholas Anthony
• White Shannon Olga
• Dong Wenting
• Rhine Wendell E

Classifications

• H01M50/116

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• H01M50/131

  characterised by physical properties, e.g. gas permeability, size or heat resistance · CPC title

• H01M50/122

  Composite material consisting of a mixture of organic and inorganic materials · CPC title

• H01M50/124

  having a layered structure · CPC title

• H01M50/133 Primary

  Thickness · CPC title