TECHNOLOGY CENTERS AND UNIVERSITIES | UK
Electric vehicle battery testing
Tailor-made quality levels
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
Battery testing laboratory
3C Test Limited, part of Applus+ Laboratories, is located in the United Kingdom. It is one of the country's leading EMC laboratories and is dedicated to the testing and certification of electronic products and equipment, including battery testing for ECE R100 type approval and UN DOT 38.3 compliance. Its focus is to ensure that products meet the required safety standards and regulations before they are marketed in different international markets. There are few systems in Europe that can test battery packs as large as this one.
The company decides to install a new laboratory to test batteries for electronic vehicles with the double objective of attesting to the quality levels that the different automotive manufacturers require in their products and to endorse the correct operation and performance of the assets.
This type of tests are highly sensitive and can even self-destruct in case of overheating due to failures. Therefore, in order to accelerate the development of batteries and to provide customers with highly efficient and reliable systems for battery testing, this center decided to install a large ACS - Angelantoni Test Technologies - temperature and humidity test chamber (mm 3800x4300x2100 H external dimensions) and a Shaker capable of generating 200kN of force.
Date of execution:
2020
Location:
United Kingdom
Sector:
Technology Centers and Universities
Client:
How we made it happen
Vibration systems and climatic chamber
Grupo Álava is working on the installation of a system consisting of a shaker and a large climatic chamber.
On the one hand, the vibration system (shaker) is in charge of reproducing certain representative profiles for the manufacturer that allow, in a few hours, to provoke the resulting fatigue that the product will have during its useful life. In this case, it makes it possible to simulate the usual vibrations suffered by batteries in daily use and to simulate impact tests.
The climatic chambers offer a controlled environment where it is possible to subject batteries to extreme conditions by simulating different physical parameters such as temperature or humidity. It is also possible to reproduce charge and discharge cycles, as well as to work with extremely low oxygen levels to increase the safety of the tests, minimizing the risk of fire inside or detecting the increase of gas through the sensors, activating the anti-fire system incorporated in the chamber.
In this way, it is possible to optimize and develop product manufacturing, identify potential problems, and improve product safety and reliability.
OUR CONTRIBUTION
Some of our products and services applied to this project
Service
Technology consulting
We advise on the best technological solution to apply according to the needs of each project. Learn more about our technology consulting.
Service
Battery testing
We conduct tests in a test laboratory for electric vehicle batteries. Learn more about this and other powerful developments we are carrying out.
RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Extreme conditions
The chamber can be coupled to an extensive shaker thanks to a removable floor for horizontal vibrations that replaces the blind shaker (both supplied).
Different types of sensors, such as O2, CO2 and H2, are also available to comply with the different levels of danger established by EUCAR (European Council for Automotive R&D), where each level of danger is associated with a series of elements to prevent them.
There are few similar systems in Europe that can test batteries as large as this one.
The climatic chamber can accommodate batteries up to 2.8 x 2.8 m in size, in extreme climatic conditions, from -50 °C to +120 °C. The shaker has a capacity of up to 200 kN for vibration testing (random and sinusoidal) and 400 kN for shock testing.
In addition, this combined test environment meets the most stringent safety requirements in the battery industry, incorporating an emergency system capable of flooding the climatic chamber with water in the event of a detected battery failure to prevent run-away and a possible fire or explosion.
This unique shaker is also capable of testing large components from other industries, such as aerospace, defense and rail.
The laboratory is equipped with additional shakers and climatic chambers, including corrosion, altitude and thermal shock test equipment, as well as battery cyclers.
up to 2 x 1.6 m
size of the batteries that the climatic chamber can hold
-50ºC to 120ºC
extreme climatic conditions of climatic chamber capacity
OUR EXPERIENCE
