Ishikawa Case Study
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MELitihumIonEmailExchange.docxLithium-Ion Mechanical and Materials Communication
Note: To get a full picture of the communication process throughout the project, pay close attention to dates and times of the emails below and how they interact with the other email threads in the project. In other words, you want to determine what Peter and the various key members of the team knew and when they knew it, as well as what significant information they were missing at any given time.
Also, as you analyze the communications, pay particularly close attention to communication styles among technical and non-technical employees as you apply the knowledge gained from the textbook about mindset, motivations, and assumptions.
You will also be analyzing the ethical concerns at the intersection of business, society, and engineering.
From: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, October 9, 2015 at 11:55
To: Harold.I.Janu < [email protected] >
Subject: Re: RE: Battery Temp Limits
Harold,
Your group has used all the industry standards for testing and we have documentation of that. Those tests indicated that the modified electronics should produce heat within an acceptable range. Going to higher resolution studies will require an external contract and NDA agreements. It is unclear that it will necessarily give us definitive answers. Let’s go with what we have.
Pete
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From: David L Richie < [email protected] >
Date: Friday, October 9, 2015 at 9:55 AM
To: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Subject: Extended tests requested
Dear Peter,
You’ve developed a new prototype that can run at higher voltages and longer times than our competitors. Your results have been stable. EE wants to push it forward and Marketing thinks it will bring a fresh relief to many of our customers.
Now, you’re asking for a month delay, potentially releasing our new prototype out before being released and Marketing wants this on the shelves for the holidays? We should keep this within our walls only. I don’t want to authorize external simulation teams to have all our data.
Our industry has been in the slumps. Our sales have dropped; our image has faded. If this can bring new light upon us, then why should we bury it and miss out on the entire holiday season sales.
See what else you can do. But I don’t want to wait on this needed relief from all the negative lithium-ion press.
David
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From: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, October 9, 2015 at 8:23 AM
To: David L Richie < [email protected] >
Subject: Extended tests requested
Hi David,
We’ve developed a new prototype that can run at 4.1V and 91oC. It is on the cusp of stability. Our results have been stable under very limited testing. EE wants to push it forward. Marketing thinks it will bring a fresh relief to much of the clientale. ME wants to extend tests and run the components at 110% of maximum load, build a few prototypes and see what the long term effects are on the lithium plating within the batteries. This will require that we hire an external simulation team, get their NDA in place and hire 3 new staff (that could be temporary) to get the results done in the next month. Can you work on a charge account that I can use to address these needs?
Pete
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From: Harold.I.Janu < [email protected] >
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 2:30 PM
To: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Battery Temp Limits
Hi Pete,
The thermal characteristics are fairly subtle and require detailed, high resolution simulations. The lithium plating can remove active voltage potential sites on the substrate. Consequently, the available sites have greater draw. We ran a number of simulations using the highest resolution that we could manage on our system but it is still under-resolved. We can’t simulate all the plating site consequences. Once we move into higher temperature and voltage areas, the lithium plating changes the material characteristics and that requires further resolution to address the materials science forecasting on material site availability and material property changes. Further the solid electrolyte interface material properties change too. Each situation requires additional resolutions to determine if the new EE configurations will be dependable. This will take time and we need external computational resources to resolve it.
Harold
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From: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 12:20 PM
To: Harold.I.Janu < [email protected] >
Subject: Re: RE: Battery Temp Limits
Hi Harold,
What was wrong with the previous simulations? Why does a few degrees change the simulation requirements?
Pete
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From: Harold.I.Janu < [email protected] >
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 11:45 AM
To: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Battery Temp Limits
Hi Pete,
The Electrical team wanted to expand the voltage over which the batteries would operate and this resulted in a change in the thermal characteristics. In order for them to increase the voltage to 4.1V per cell they simultaneously were borderline around 92 degC. The new design is pushing the battery to the perimeter of the safe limits. We need more data and we need to increase the simulation resolution. However, this will take more time. Tell marketing to wait. Carolyn has been reluctant to have her chemist measure the onset and development of Lithium Plating. I think that needs to be done. I’ve asked her for some prototypes. Currently her load applications are at 20% of maximum. However, users will apply significantly larger loads for many applications. We need more time to measure the potential degradation of the Li-I compound and many high-resolution simulations.
Harold
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From: Peter.Q.Robin <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 10:29 AM
To: Harold.I.Janu < [email protected] >
Subject: Battery Temp Limits
Hi Harold,
Just following up on this morning’s meeting. You mentioned that test results indicate that the batteries are operating near the edge of, or outside of, the safe operating region. Is this consistent across all batteries, all tests? Do we know what the uncertainties are? Marketing is looking to try and get an announcement out on this new prototype.
Pete
