{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","research_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_light_screen_20260805","cell_id":"emergent_pattern_detection__chemistry_materials","search_lanes":{"direct_problem_and_intervention":{"queries":["battery separator embedded sensing electrode dendrite detection interrupt current multi layer","lithium metal dendrite detection separator sensor early warning internal short circuit","zinc dendrite separator guard electrode detect penetration current cutoff"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2"],"no_result_note":"No retained source disclosed the full combination of segmented continuity islands at successive depths, passive thermal aggregation, a phase-change mechanical interrupter, and depth-retaining witness traces."},"synonyms_and_historical_terms":{"queries":["patent battery separator multiple conductive layers dendrite detection depth","patent dendrite sensor separator segmented electrodes battery early warning","bifunctional separator dendrite detection current interrupt battery"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2"],"no_result_note":null},"products_practices_and_standards":{"queries":["battery separator dendrite penetration detection standard safety internal short","site:iec.ch battery internal short circuit test separator IEC 62660","site:sae.org lithium ion battery internal short circuit standard separator dendrite"],"source_ids":["SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":"The retained IEC technical report addresses simulated internal-short testing rather than embedded pre-short dendrite-pattern detection; it was withdrawn on 2026-07-31."},"component_combination":{"queries":["battery dendrite detection multiple sensing electrodes array separator spatial","battery separator patterned conductive sensor array dendrite mapping","battery internal dendrite sensor thermal fuse current cutoff separator","passive battery dendrite detection shutdown wax thermal actuator"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"],"no_result_note":"Component-level precedents were found for in-separator sensing, plural sensors, shutdown after detection, separator short-circuit testing, and thermal consequences, but not for their proposed passive topology-sensitive combination."}},"sources":[{"source_id":"SRC1","title":"Improving battery safety by early detection of internal shorting with a bifunctional separator","publisher":"Nature Communications","url":"https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6193","source_type":"PRIMARY_RESEARCH","claims_supported":["Lithium dendrite growth can cause internal short circuits, fire, and explosion.","A conductive layer embedded midway through a separator can contact an advancing dendrite and produce a warning signal before an anode-cathode short.","The demonstrated separator used one intermediary sensing layer and a third monitored terminal, not passive multi-depth aggregation or mechanical interruption."]},{"source_id":"SRC2","title":"WO2015031334A1 — Dendrite detection and batteries containing dendrite sensors","publisher":"World Intellectual Property Organization patent publication via Google Patents","url":"https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2015031334A1/en","source_type":"OTHER","claims_supported":["Prior patent literature discloses plural electric-field sensors on or within separator material for monitoring dendrite incursion.","The disclosed controller can regulate battery operation when dendrites are detected before they reach the opposing electrode.","The disclosed mechanism senses electric-field changes and uses a controller, rather than deposited-metal continuity, resistor-limited thermal summation, a phase-change latch, or witness traces."]},{"source_id":"SRC3","title":"Safety Test Methods Simulating Internal Short Circuit and the Mechanism for Safety Improvement of Li-ion Batteries by Heat Resistant Separators","publisher":"The Electrochemical Society of Japan","url":"https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/electrochemistry/88/6/88_20-00100/_article","source_type":"PRIMARY_RESEARCH","claims_supported":["Electrical heat generation occurs during the early stage of a modeled battery short circuit.","Separator behavior and preservation of separator function materially affect internal-short safety.","Controlled model-cell and separator comparisons are established research practices for studying short-circuit behavior."]},{"source_id":"SRC4","title":"IEC TR 62660-4:2017 — Candidate alternative test methods for the internal short circuit test of IEC 62660-3","publisher":"International Electrotechnical Commission","url":"https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/30991","source_type":"OFFICIAL_STANDARD","claims_supported":["The technical report defined candidate tests simulating a conductive-particle internal short to assess secondary lithium-ion-cell safety.","Internal-short abuse testing is an established safety-assessment practice distinct from detecting an advancing dendritic topology.","The report applied to propulsion cells, excluded cylindrical cells, and was withdrawn on 2026-07-31."]}],"problem_evidence":{"status":"PARTLY_SUPPORTED","finding":"The safety problem is visible: primary research demonstrates that dendrites can penetrate separators, cause internal shorts, and be detected by an embedded conductor before the working electrodes short; patent literature likewise treats pre-short separator sensing and shutdown as useful. The narrower premise that danger specifically emerges from a distributed, multi-site, depth-progressing percolation pattern rather than a single penetrating dendrite was not directly established by the retained sources.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"]},"closest_prior_art":[{"name":"Bifunctional polymer–copper–polymer separator","source_ids":["SRC1"],"overlap":"Embeds a conductive sensing layer inside a separator and detects deposited lithium contact before a complete electrode-to-electrode short.","remaining_difference":"It uses one continuous intermediate layer and an externally monitored voltage signal; it does not classify multi-site or multi-depth topology, thermally aggregate bounded contact currents, retain depth witnesses, or mechanically open the plating circuit without a controller."},{"name":"Separator-mounted plurality of electric-field sensors with operational regulation","source_ids":["SRC2"],"overlap":"Places plural sensors on or within a separator, monitors dendrite growth over time, and permits battery-operation regulation before a catastrophic short.","remaining_difference":"It detects local electric-field changes and delegates regulation to a controller; it does not disclose segmented electronic-contact islands at successive depths, passive coincidence summation as heat, a phase-transition latch, or an irreversible depth record."},{"name":"Internal-short and separator-safety test practices","source_ids":["SRC3","SRC4"],"overlap":"Uses controlled model or simulated internal-short conditions to evaluate separator behavior, heat generation, and cell safety.","remaining_difference":"These are evaluation practices, not an embedded pre-short pattern detector or autonomous interrupter; the IEC report also targeted conductive-particle shorts rather than dendritic progression."}],"prior_art_disposition":"ADJACENT_PRIOR_ART","contrastive_claim_remaining":"In a current-limited transparent aqueous-zinc cell, a segmented continuity structure spanning multiple separator depths can require temporally overlapping contacts at multiple locations or successive depths, passively sum their bounded currents into a physical trip threshold, and mechanically interrupt plating before an electrode bridge while rejecting ionic leakage, uniform plating, and isolated metal contacts. The retained art establishes embedded early-warning sensors but not this topology-sensitive, controller-free aggregation-and-interruption rule.","contrastive_claim_falsifier":"The claim is falsified if blinded microscopy shows that multi-depth trips do not precede electrode bridging, dangerous branches bypass the islands, ionic leakage or isolated/uniform deposits satisfy the trip rule, the instrument materially creates or redirects the growth it reports, or the multi-depth device supplies no topology discrimination beyond a single buried guard.","gates":{"adequate_source_search":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The bounded search covered the proposal directly, historical terms such as bifunctional separator and pre-indication, patents and standards, and combinations involving plural sensors, spatial mapping, thermal cutoff, and passive shutdown. Four opened sources span four publishers and include primary research and an official technical standard.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"supported_problem":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Experimental and patent sources support dendrite penetration as an internal-short hazard and demonstrate that an embedded separator sensor can warn before a complete short. Support for the specifically distributed-percolation framing is partial but sufficient for a bounded test.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"]},"distinct_testable_claim":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Although embedded separator sensing and post-detection regulation are prior art, the remaining claim is narrowly distinguishable and observable: multi-depth electronic-contact topology, passive thermal coincidence aggregation, mechanical opening, control-condition rejection, and retained depth evidence.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2"]},"bounded_next_test":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Matched plain, single-depth, and multi-depth separator coupons in current-limited transparent aqueous-zinc cells permit microscopy-referenced measurements of contact sequence, trip time, bridge time, leakage, temperature, false trips, bypasses, and sensor-induced growth. Model-cell and simulated-short comparisons are established practices.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC3","SRC4"]},"no_obvious_safety_or_authority_stop":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"No obvious stop applies to the expressly limited low-energy aqueous, current-limited, shielded coupon experiment under laboratory safety-lead authority. Internal-short heating and sensor-induced field distortion remain material hazards requiring containment, temperature monitoring, immediate disconnect criteria, microscopy controls, and exclusion of lithium-metal or production-cell deployment.","source_ids":["SRC3","SRC4"]}},"screen_survival":true,"world_novelty_boundary":"This is an adjacent-prior-art result from a bounded public-web screen. It does not establish world novelty, patentability or freedom to operate, market size, expert acceptance, manufacturing feasibility, reliability, transferability across metal chemistries, or realized safety value."}