LG Energy Solution awards the best in-house invention and application winner… 12 people, including team leader Hwangbo Kwang-soo, received awards

‘2024 Invention King and Application King Awards Ceremony’ held
Cylindrical 46 Series Core Technology Invention King Gold Award Selection
CEO Kim Dong-myeong “We have overwhelming competitiveness through our employees’ spirit of innovation and challenge”
LG Ensol holds over 32,000 registered patents in the battery field
“Strong response to unauthorized use of patents as part of creating a fair competitive environment”

LG Energy Solution announced on the 12th that it held the ‘2024 Inventor and Applicant Awards Ceremony’ to select employees who developed innovative battery technology at Park One headquarters in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 10th. It is said that this award is operated to encourage creative and challenging research by employees and thereby strengthen technological competitiveness.

A total of 12 people were selected as this year’s invention kings, including 6 employees who submitted influential patents in the industry, and 6 employees who applied for multiple key patents as application kings. Internal and external experts selected the winners by comprehensively evaluating patentability, technology, and business feasibility.

The Inventor’s Gold Award was awarded to Team Leader Hwangbo Kwang-soo of the Small Battery Development Center, who invented LG Energy Solutions’ first unidirectional anode/cathode electrical connection and connection structure technology between electrode terminals and current collector applied to the cylindrical 46 series. It is characterized by dramatically improving energy density and resistance compared to the previous one by changing the electrode terminal and tab connection structure in the new cylindrical form factor. With this patent, LG Energy Solutions explained that it has been able to strengthen its leadership in technology related to the 46 series, which is considered the next-generation battery.

In addition, a voltage abnormality behavior diagnosis method using moving average deviation (silver prize, responsible for Seong Yong-cheol), particle design technology that improves NCM single particle high temperature safety (silver prize, responsible for Tae-gu Yoo), and surface cooling type battery pack technology (bronze prize, team leader Cho Sang-hyun) , insulating coating anode technology that secured electrolyte wet adhesion (responsible for the bronze statue, Jeong Joo-young), and silicon-based anode active material volume expansion/contraction suppression and lifespan improvement technology (responsible for the bronze statue, Oh Oh-geun) were also selected as invention king technologies.

The Gold Prize for Best Applicant was awarded to Seonwoo Yoo, who contributed to patent applications in the field of pack electrical component development. Bae Won-sik (silver prize), Yoon Jong-soo (silver prize), Lee Taek-soo (bronze prize), Hwang Seong-taek (bronze prize), and Shin Joo-hwan (bronze prize) were also among the top applicants.

Kim Dong-myung, CEO of LG Energy Solutions, said, “We were able to build overwhelming customer value capabilities because of our members’ will for innovation and spirit of challenge.” He added, “We will continue to build a creative and challenging research and development (R&D) culture in the future.” “We will create a culture,” he said.

Meanwhile, LG Energy Solutions holds over 32,000 registered patents related to core battery technology fields, including materials, cells, packs, BMS, and processes. Including applied patents, it has unrivaled patent competitiveness in the industry with over 58,000 patents. Last year alone, we invested more than 1 trillion won in R&D and are expanding investment in related fields every year. Recently, the company announced that it will take strong action against the indiscriminate and unauthorized use of patents by latecomers in order to create a global battery patent licensing market and lead a fair competitive environment in the battery industry.

Kim Min-beom, Donga.com reporter mbkim@donga.com