Joe Fleming (JF) is an Associate Professor within Coventry University and was a former Lead Engineer at the University of Warwick and Alert-iT Care Alarms. JF has over 14 years of theory, design and experimental development experience of bespoke electronic systems, sensors and instrumentation, for both academic and industrial applications. JF received his M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering at De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K., in 2012; and then a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Warwick, Coventry, U.K., in 2018. JF’s principle research interests are sensors, communications, and system integration. Since 2015 JF has developed a broad portfolio of research aimed at improving the performance and understanding of the limits of energy storage, through the use of embedded electronics and sensors. Consequently, the main achievement since JF joined academia is to have established an international reputation for instrumented energy storage, and to have produced fundamental high impact research, which has a direct and current benefit to the energy storage sector.

- Sensors

- Electronics and Embedded systems

- Smart energy storage

- Battery monitoring systems 

Development of a Digital epilepsy and fall detection wireless sensor 

In-situ Instrumentaiton for smart energy storage

In-situ sensors developed by JF include novel optical sensors that were for the first time modified specifically for embedding within cylindrical format cells, enabling in-situ distributed core measurement of temperature, with no impact on cell performance. This work was significant because a temperature difference was identified between the cell’s core and can temperatures of up to 6° C during discharge and 3° C during the charge phase. Therefore his work underlined the necessity of real internal cell temperature measurements for thermal management and safety validation. The observed axial temperature gradient can be a vital source of information about local overheating zones and anode/cathode temperature differences, supporting materials and electrochemical research. Furthermore, JF has developed distributed thermistor arrays and reference electrodes combined onto a unique single flexible sensor for monitoring within the core of a non-rigid, pouch cell. This work also demonstrated that under certain scenarios, such as fast charging or discharging, safety limits can be breached earlier than the external sensors would indicate, leading to a false sense of security or faster degradation. His work has proven that the sensor topology, polymer encapsulation and cell modifications to adapt the sensing methodology are durable, enabling long term operation monitoring, while having no adverse effect on the cell’s performance. This work, however, used off-the shelf components that are not suited for integration onto a current collector, due to mechanical space issues.