Modeling of Battery Systems
& Installations for
Automotive Applications
{Tesla’s proposed mass production electric vehicle.
Courtesy Tesla Motors.
For more stories about how CD-adapco is pushing forward visit our Automotive Hub:
http://www.cd-adapco.com/auto
It is difficult to find any auto OEM that does not have either EV vehicles in
production or in advanced development. Batteries have emerged as a key
technology to the success of any EVs and this has resulted in a business
environment with OEMs, tier 1 suppliers and cell manufacturers forming JVs
and alliances to deliver complete battery pack solutions.
One aspect of battery systems that has rapidly gained increased
engineering importance is that of thermal management; temperature
affects lifetime, durability, performance and safety, all of which are
critical to the success of the vehicle. It has also become apparent that
the CAE tools, upon which the auto industry relies heavily for product
development, have not been available to address thermal management
of large-scale battery installations.
The problem is technically challenging - cell performance depends on
temperature, yet temperature depends upon the cell, pack, cooling
system and installation design and operating conditions. Although
analysis tools are available to address vehicle thermal management
issues, these have not until now been able to solve large-scale problems
whilst coupled to cell models.
p
Lithium ion battery simulation.
Courtesy: Daimler AG.
It is difficult to find any auto OEM that does not have either EV vehicles in
production or in advanced development. Batteries have emerged as a key
technology to the success of any EVs and this has resulted in a business
environment with OEMs, tier 1 suppliers and cell manufacturers forming
JVs and alliances to deliver complete battery pack solutions.
To deliver an optimum solution, CD-adapco and Battery Design LLC
formed a partnership in early 2009 to deliver a fully coupled flow-thermalcell solution for solving large scale battery problems. CD-adapco has
been developing and using analysis software for fluid flow, heat transfer
and stress analysis for nearly 30 years and is heavily ensconced in the
automotive industry worldwide; one particular area of strength is total
vehicle thermal management. Battery Design LLC is a company specializing
in the design and modeling of Li-ion batteries for more than a decade and
consults widely to the battery and cell industry.
Specifically, all of the fluid flow and heat-transfer capabilities, including
multiple fluid-solid domains, conjugate heat transfer, multi-phase flow,
radiation etc available in STAR-CCM+ are coupled to the full range of cell
models developed by Battery Design LLC. These include fast simple-circuit
models for routine thermal analysis to enhanced electro-chemistry models
where non-linear behaviour is critical, such as short circuits and thermal
runaway. Additionally, all of the powerful pre and post processing tools
required for CAD import, surface preparation, automatic meshing, model
setup and visualization are available in the STAR-CCM+ environment.
Simulating battery systems is intrinsically a transient problem - the
State-of-Charge (SOC), and hence the battery characteristics, are changing
continuously. Additionally, thermal transients are of fundamental interest,
typically for a drive cycle of around 20 to 30 minutes. The software
has therefore been designed to be able to undertake such unsteady
calculations in which the flow, thermal and electrical time-scales are
accounted for properly.
pMercedes S400 thermal analysis showing installed lithium ion battery pack.
Courtesy Daimler.
One of the challenges to solving such problems is not just the possession
of an appropriate analysis tool but also a clear engineering process. The
ability to go from a battery design and experimental cell data to a viable
installed thermal result. Much effort has been devoted to developing this
process so that when the STAR-CCM+ solution is delivered, users will be
able to deliver realistic results as fast as possible.
tLithium ion battery - Courtesy BEHR.
For more stories about how CD-adapco is pushing forward visit our Automotive Hub:
http://www.cd-adapco.com/auto
Americas
Europe
Headquarters • Melville, NY • info@us.cd-adapco.com
Headquarters • London, UK • info@uk.cd-adapco.com
Additional Offices: Atlanta GA • Austin TX • Cincinnati OH • Detroit MI • Houston TX
Lebanon NH • Los Angeles CA • Seattle WA • State College PA • Tulsa OK
Asia-Pacific Offices
CDaES
Yokohama
info@jp.cd-adapco.com
Additional Offices: Aberdeen • Lyon • Nuremberg • Oslo • Paris • Rome • Turin
Resellers
CD-adapco India
Bangalore
info@in.cd-adapco.com
CD-adapco Korea
Seoul
info@kr.cd-adapco.com
For a full listing of our worldwide offices and Resellers, please visit www.cd-adapco.com
CD-adapco SEAsia
Singapore
info@sg.cd-adapco.com
CDAJ Japan
Yokohama • Kobe
info@cdaj.co.jp
CDAJ China
Beijing • Shanghai
info@cdaj-china.com
BATTERY2010
Global Offices