General Electric (GE) Energy Storage is a subsidiary of GE that focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing different types of energy storage devices. These energy storage devices can be used in a variety of applications such as uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) for cell phone towers, data centers, hospitals and a host of places where a constant power supply is critical to effective operations. GE Energy Storage has developed a new battery cell called a sodium metal halide (SMH) cell. These cells use molten sodium to operate, and thus need to be initially heated from an external source and then maintained at their operating temperature of 300 C nominal. GE needed to develop a packaging system that would store, protect, heat, and cool the cells when necessary. The number of cells included in the packaging ranges from 80 to 230 cells. The key functional specifications include limiting the amount of heat loss while the battery is idling (no electric power load), electrically isolating the individual cells, and cooling the battery during a power event.

GE Energy Storage asked BYU Capstone Team 16 to create a packaging concept for the battery cells. This required the team to design a system that would minimize heat loss while the battery is idling, heat the cells to their initial operating temperature, cool the cells during a power event, and mechanically support the cells and protect them during handling, shock loading, and seismic activity. After doing a thorough analysis of customer needs, key user comments, concept generation, narrowing concepts to final designs, finalizing details on those designs, and fabricating and testing a prototype, the BYU Capstone Team 16 developed a battery package that supports 81 SMH cells with the specifications the sponsor requested