May 3, 2021 at 16:30-17:30 p.m. – the steering committee of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory, Khon Kaen University held the first meeting of 2021 at the Innovation and Enterprise Section, 5th Floor, Sirikunakorn Building, Khon Kaen University. President Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D. joined the meeting online. The other participants included Prof. Thidarat Boonmars, Ph.D., Vice President for Innovation and Enterprise; Asst. Prof. Thanoo Burinprakhon, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research and International Relation of the Faculty of Sciences; Prof. Witthaya Amornkitbamrung, Ph.D., Director of the Nano-Material Innovation and Research Institute of the Faculty of Sciences; Assoc. Prof. Nonglak Meethong, Ph.D., from the Nano-Material Innovation and Research Institute of the Faculty of Sciences; and the steering committee of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory, Khon Kaen University.
The 1st/2021 meeting of the steering committee of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory, Khon Kaen University comprised 5 agenda. The first was the chairman’s report, e.g., request for industrial product standard of the 18650 ion battery; the appointment of Prof. Witthaya Amornkitbamrung, Ph.D. as the advisor of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory; the appointment of Assoc. Prof. Nonglak Meethong, Ph.D., as a member of the Sub-Committee of Parts and Electric Vehicle Industry Promotion by the National Electric Vehicle Policy and Plan Committee; and the plans for the Project: “Reserve Battery for PAPR and Alternative Batteries for Movable Medical Equipment”.
The 2nd Agendum was the reviewing of the past implementation, including approval of the minutes of the 3rd meeting of 2020 of the steering committee of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory, Khon Kaen University Factory on Wednesday October 21, 2020, at 13:30-15:00 p.m.
The 3rd Agendum was on arising matters such as the plan to give out the products of the battery factory; reporting the progress of the operations of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory in January until March, 2021.
The 4th Agendum was the discussion of the following items: collaboration in the research project and entering MOU with C.P. Land (Public Company) on 50kW/300kWh Energy Storage System (ESS); collaboration in the research project with the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (EGAT); and the following key items: 1) Use of lithium-ion battery with ESS, 2) Research study on solid-state battery, 3) Battery recycling, 4) Research and development of battery life and request for International electrotechnical Commission (IEC) authorization for the lithium-ion battery standard.
The 5th Agendum was setting the date for the next meeting of the steering committee of the Prototype Lithium-ion Battery Factory.
The project: “Reserve Battery for PAPR and Alternative Batteries for Mobile Medical Equipment”, which was discussed at the meeting was another interesting subject, for there were medical and public health objectives to solve and restore the economic and social conditions. This project was approved on April 27, 2021, with the fund from a funding source based on an Act of 2020 that enables the Ministry of Finance to make loans for mitigation of the impacts arising from the outbreak of Cpvid-19 pandemic.
The “Reserve Battery for PAPR and Alternative Batteries for Mobile Medical Equipment” Project has an aim to produce batteries for the PAPR and mobile medical equipment. Reduction of the cost at an estimate amount of over 25 million baht can be anticipated as the outcome of this project. The batteries are planned to be given to the Ministry of Public Health to distribute to hospitals all over the country in November and December, 2021.
Additional information: Smart prototype lithium-ion battery from rice-husk ash [KKU]
