Batteries, System Operator

Lithium ion batteries for electric cars

CD-adapco announces the release of a computer-aided engineering tool, called STAR-CCM + Battery Simulation Module, designed to simulate spirally wound lithium-ion battery cells.

The technology is aimed at helping the automotive and battery industries more quickly design and develop advanced electric drive vehicle power sources.

The project, which began in August 2011, is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The new spiral cell software was developed within the first year of a multi-year award.”Proliferating simulation methods in the new and rapidly changing field of lithium-ion battery development is the goal of the CAEBAT (Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries) project,” said Ahmed Pesaran, Energy Storage group team leader at the NREL. “By including such models in to their mainstream product, CD-adapco is supporting the Department of Energy to meet these goals.”

The tool was created in conjunction with Battery Design LLC, Johnson Controls, Inc., and A123 Systems.

“It is CD-adapco’s strategy to collaborate with experts in emerging fields, such as electrochemistry, to develop customer focused solutions,” said Steve Hartridge, Director of Electric & Hybrid Vehicles at CD-adapco. “By capturing the process, data and knowledge of experts involved in this project, CD-adapco enables a wide audience to begin applying simulation methods to the design of lithium-ion cells.”

Battery Design LLC’s President Robert Spotnitz, a 30-year veteran of analytical methods applied to electrochemistry, added, “The code includes some of the latest techniques for modeling electrochemical and thermal performance. It’s great to see these methods become mainstream.”

This computer simulation technology project was one of three chosen to support the DOE’s CAEBAT program to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy provided the funding.

Goals of the project include developing battery engineering tools to design cells and battery packs; validating the accuracy of those tools; shortening prototyping and manufacturing processes; improving overall battery performance, safety, and life; and reducing battery costs.

The release of this tool is a significant milestone for the CD-adapco project which is a result of a competitive procurement through NREL that was awarded to CD-adapco last year (http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2011/1472.html). The program will run for two more years.