Method of monitoring electrochemical cells

Claim 1

Method of monitoring on a continuous basis the physical and electrical condition of electrochemical cells of a battery so that corrective action can be taken before explosion and/or venting occurs, and wherein each of the electrochemical cells has an electrically conductive shell, said method including the steps of: (A) coating the electrically conductive shell of each cell of the battery with a thin non electrically conductive layer, (B) applying a sensor stripe over the non electrically conductive layer so that the sensor does not make electrical contact to the shell of the cell, wherein the sensor stripe is comprised of multiple sensor elements including a conductive thermally sensitive material and a conductive stress/strain material, and wherein said materials are connected together to form a continuous series electrical path using bonding pads of a metallic material to interface the junctions of the conductive thermally sensitive material and the sensor leads. (C) connectng leads to the sensor and then coating the sensor with a protective layer, and (D) connecting the sensor leads of individual cells of the battery into an electrical series circuit, the remaining leads of the series sensor circuit being connected to an alarm/control network that monitors the conductivity of the series electrical path.