Computer Models Help Engineers Catch Battery Dangers Earlier in EV Design
Researchers found that simulation-based safety tools let engineers spot thermal risks in electric vehicle batteries during early design stages, not after costly prototypes are built. The approach, tested in a university solar car project, could accelerate EV development and reduce design recalls.
Originaltitel: Investigating Simulation for Safety Analysis of Battery Systems in an Active Solar Car Project
<p>In the design of Electrical Vehicles (EVs) there are often many trade-offs to consider during system design. When considering safety aspects, these needs are further increased due to counter-acting incentives in design. Model-based tools and methods present a means of providing analytical capabilities through modeling of complex systems, possibly assisting in the analysis and design of EVs. In this paper we detail the experiences of using model-based methods in the design and analysis of a thermal management system for battery systems in solar cars. We use the context of the challenger class vehicles in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) and discuss insights from applying a model-based method. The paper further reports on feedback from an active solar car project at a Swedish University. Our findings indicate that a model-based approach for safety analysis can provide meaningful tools for students to reason about safety during early system design stages.</p>