Agile Development of a Modular System for HV Battery Housings with Focus on Crash & Structure

Autoren

Karl Radlmayr, Andrea Tuksa, voestalpine AG, Linz;
Michael Bartmann, Michael Funcke, Nils Neumann, fka GmbH, Aachen

Zusammenfassung

Battery housings are a crucial element of future high voltage battery systems. Safety, structural and thermal requirements have to be met at lowest possible weight and cost.

For this purpose, voestalpine has developed a toolbox for modular and scalable battery housings that meets current and future OEM  requirements. Within an agile, cross-company project together with fka GmbH, involving production and development locations in three European countries, the construction, structural and thermal design of the modular toolbox has been developed. Within this publication, crash and structural topics are addressed.

In a first step, relevant requirements had to be identified. To be as agile as possible, the number of mechanical and thermal load cases were reduced to a relevant minimum. For this set of requirements, both official regulations and OEM demands were analysed regarding thresholds. With the gained target values (e.g. for the force applied in quasi static structure tests) as well as battery-specific load cases, the design phase was launched.

In addition to thermal requirements, mechanical and structural boundary conditions were also considered. The pole crush according to GB/T 31467.3 and a self-defined bollard test were taken as reference. It turned out that two basic approaches lead to the best results in terms of weight. The first approach consists in an unconventional approach where the cooling is in the top cover plate and the battery modules are integrated in a suspended rather than standing design. The second approach consists in a functionally integrated solution with a focus on the bottom plate. In a maximum integration scenario, the reinforcements for the side as well as the bottom impact are integrated in the floor construction, together with a novel cooling plate design.

The agile design process consisted of integrated construction, simulation and optimization loops. Up to three iterations have been carried out per week. This enabled the design team to maximize efficiency and shorten the development process.

The design phase culminated in different layouts that form a toolbox, enabling voestalpine to meet a wide variety of customer requirements, choosing the right approach for each specific design maxim, for example:

• Deep-drawn tub for maximum safety and tightness
• Frame construction for high modularity and scalability
• Steel-Aluminum hybrid: Maximum lightweight design

As a result, the toolbox spans a large solution space and, with the agile development process capabilities established, enables voestalpine to respond to different customer requirements and demands in a flexible way.

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