Dr Lan Trieu Lam

Dr Lan Trieu Lam: UltraBattery development

Dr Lan Trieu Lam focuses on energy storage and the advancement of lead-acid batteries.

• 10 July 2009 | Updated 21 February 2013

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Lan Trieu Lam is a Research Team Leader in the area of energy storage in CSIRO's Energy Technology Division.

Dr Lam’s work focuses on the advancement of lead-acid batteries, in particular the development of the UltraBattery.

UltraBattery is an advanced energy storage system that has applications for low emission hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

The UltraBattery lasts four times longer and produces 50 per cent more power than conventional battery systems. It is also 70 per cent less expensive than the batteries currently used in HEVs.

Background

Since joining CSIRO in 1988, Dr Lam’s research has resulted in several significant contributions to the lead and battery industries:

• novel plate-processing technology of Exide PowerLift™ batteries (GNB Australia)

• advanced (bismuth-containing) leady oxide for valve-regulated batteries, now known as Zinifex

• two specifications for lead used in batteries, which are now widely accepted by lead and battery industries. CSIRO and the Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) have been granted a patent for these research works

• a mechanism explaining the premature failure of lead-acid battery under HEV duty and discovery of the battery-life enhancing benefits of fast charging and Novel Pulse™ device for electric vehicle (EV) and HEV applications. CSIRO and the ALABC have been granted two full patents for these research works

• UltraBattery energy storage system. This hybrid battery has been considered as a step-change technology by the Science Review Panels and is covered by four patents. The technology is licensed to Furukawa Battery Co. Ltd. Japan.
   

Dr Lam has also been a key scientific adviser to eight Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand). 

He has also been a keynote speaker at several international conferences and workshops and has served on the expert panels of both the Asian and European Battery Conferences.

Academic qualifications

Dr Lam obtained a Doctor of Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, in 1982.

Achievements

Dr Lam has been awarded the:

• 2011 Gaston Plante Medal

• Technical Development Award of The Electrochemical Society of Japan, 2009

• CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement, 2008
• International Lead Medal, 2005
• CSIRO Chairman’s Medal, 2000.

He has also been invited to present a distinguished lecture for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2011.

Since joining CSIRO, Dr Lam has published 33 papers, 15 patents and 83 industrial reports.

Find out more about CSIRO's UltraBattery project.