How do I engineer a battery pack?

In order to engineer a battery pack it is important to understand the fundamental building blocks, including the battery cell manufacturing process. This will allow you to understand some of the limitations of the cells and differences between batches of cells. Or at least understand where these may arise.

How can mechanical design and battery packaging protect EV batteries?

Robust mechanical design and battery packaging can provide greater degree of protection against all of these. This chapter discusses design elements like thermal barrier and gas exhaust mechanism that can be integrated into battery packaging to mitigate the high safety risks associated with failure of an electric vehicle (EV) battery pack.

Are aluminum battery enclosures recyclable?

Aluminum battery enclosures or other platform parts typically gives a weight saving of 40% compared to an equivalent steel design. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable with zero loss of properties. At end of life 96% of automotive aluminum content is recycled. Recycling aluminum only requires 5% of the energy needed for primary production.

How do you connect a battery cell to a collector plate?

Here number 14 is the battery cell and 12 the connector wire joined onto the battery, which is in turn connected to the collector plate 16. The joints are recommended to be made by ultrasonic wedge bonding, but any other process may be used. The wires shall be of aluminium and have a diameter of 0.28 - 0.41 (mm).

How does interconnection affect the performance of a battery pack?

Interconnection of the battery cells creates an electrical and mechanical connection, which can be realised by means of different joining technologies. The adaption of different joining technologies greatly influences the central characteristics of the battery pack in terms of battery performance, capacity and lifetime.

What material should a battery collector plate be made of?

The collector plate shall be of any electrically conducting material, preferably metal. Fig. 7. Patent US7923144B2 battery interconnections, where 14 is the battery cell, 12 the to the battery welded wire, and 16 the collector plate (Kohn et al., 2011).