Fuzzy Logic-Based Non-Destructive Testing of Thermal Batteries

"Primary reserve batteries used in weapons systems are typically not activated until immediately before use. To periodically test the condition of these inactivated batteries, sample batteries are removed from the weapons, activated, tested, and from thetested samples, statistical techniques used to estimate the condition of the stockpile. This takes considerable time and money. In this project non-destructive techniques for determining the condition of these reserve batteries will be considered.Various stimuli to the battery including electrical, mechanical, and thermal together with the batteries' responses to these stimuli will be assessed. Both theoretical analysis of the battery response and experimental verification will be performed todevelop a few candidate approaches for non-destructive testing of primary reserve batteries. One of the techniques that will be investigated in more depth is ac impedance measurements at various temperatures for the molten-salt Li-based primary thermalbatteries. The present method of monitoring the condition of primary reserve batteries used in weapons systems is to test samples of stockpiled batteries by activating the batteries, and using statistical analysis to estimate the condition of batteries inthe stockpile. This method has several drawbacks. It requires that samples be selected for testing, and the selected samples be activated for testing. This means that these particular tested bat