Overview
For electric vehicles high-performance batteries, lightweight construction and safety are essential. Currently, these are conflicting requirements. In this project the requirements for a secure lightweight battery housing are determined, and the development process is defined and validated.
The aim of the project is to understand the requirements for lightweight housing for lithium batteries for use in electric vehicles. Further, it is the objective to describe the complete tool collection and the overall development process. The theoretical results can be proofed and validated within a testing phase.
Thanks to innovative materials and development tools a great potential for weight saving can be exploited while ensuring the systems reliability and safety in case of failure. For this purpose, it is necessary to fully grasp the demands on the battery housing depending on different purposes in reality. Subsequently, the entire development process, which is required for the design of such battery housings, is evaluated. In various simulations, the behavior of the housing and the battery is simulated in different operating and fault conditions. Finally, a basic structure of the housing is constructed to validate the simulation by reproducing the operating conditions at the test bench.
Funding
Results
The LKR ("Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen") extended the basic knowledge about modeling materials and material failure/fatigue. The Bitter GmbH developed a basic concept of the housing, based on the defined requirements. The AIT (“Austrian Institute of Technology”) and LWE ("Lightweight Energy") focused on technical standards and international tests with vehicles including their assessment regarding the used battery technology.
The construction of a housing prototype allowed various tests, including an overcharge test.
Findings of the study are published by a final report (short version, German only) which is available online via the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT): www2.ffg.at/verkehr/file.php?id=496