Secure Applications for Electric Battery Housing SafEBat
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | AP&T Sweden AB - AP&T SWEDEN AKTIEBOLAG, Ulricehamn |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 2 995 000 |
| Project duration | June 2020 - February 2024 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Joint R&D projects for small and medium-sized enterprises in Sweden-Germany |
| Call | German-Swedish Call for joint R&D projects by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises fall 2019 |
Important results from the project
AP&T, RISE SICOMP, Fraunhofer (IWU), and FiberCheck collaborated on the design and manufacturing of a demonstrator for a Multi-functional SMC-aluminum battery tray to drive lightweight design. The development goals were: Enhanced Lightweight design of a battery tray Development of a process to enable one-step manufacturing to reduce manufacturing costs Improving the crash structure by using Integration of sensor systems during the SMC process to measure temperature, strain, and humidity
Expected long term effects
The new design resulted in a 17.9% mass reduction and notable performance enhancements for EV battery housing. Requirements on FRP-Aluminum Foam materials and phase change material-metal (PCM-metal) foam composite were investigating and determined to understand the behaviour during processing with SMC which is essential for producing hybrid SMC structures. Sensor layouts of embroidered sensors were adapted to enable the integration during the SMC process. Furthermore, a SMC tool was developed to manufacturing the hybrid demonstration component in one single operation.
Approach and implementation
Together with all partners, concepts for the battery housing were developed. For this task, all concepts were transferred into a morphological box, and the most promising concept was determined using an evaluation matrix. The concept was later designed in CAD through several iteration loops, incorporating feedback from the performance simulation conducted in LS-Dyna. To determine the optimal aluminium foam density, mechanical tests such as tensile tests were conducted. DSC and TGA was used to analyse the heat capacities of the PCM decomposition temperatures.