Sion Power, Lithium Battery Test Facility

The Sion Power Corporation ‘Lithium Battery Test Equipment Building’ is located in Tucson, Arizona.  M3 was selected to design the new Test Equipment Building which is used to house new large format cell test equipment.  Sion Power will perform both electrical testing and standard abuse testing of the batteries within this building.  The building is predominately an unoccupied environmentally controlled facility and will be monitored remotely.  The abuse test rooms are all CMU interior walls with a metal ceiling. There are various abuse tests performed within these room such as short circuit and cell crush tests, as well as abnormal electrical tests. The rooms will always be empty when the tests are being performed and monitored outside by camera.  All thermal events are fire, not explosions and proper venting for a safe atmosphere, as well as eliminating any chance of a containment (which could cause an explosion) is provided.  M3 provided project management, architectural, civil, structural mechanical / plumbing, and electrical design and engineering services.