Battery is one of the safety critical systems in EV. As the number of EVs increases, battery safety becomes an important task to avoid any mishap during its use, as even small accidents may slow down the adaptation of EVs. Automotive environment being one of the harshest operating environments, it is important to ensure both mechanical and electrical safety of the battery pack.
Li-Ion batteries are most popular among traction batteries, due to their high energy density, long life, and fast charging capabilities. But mechanical damage, over temperature, short-circuit, etc. may lead to battery thermal runaway, causing a major accident. Mechanical abuse of battery can be one of the reasons that may lead to the damages mentioned above, eventually causing thermal runaway in batteries. That’s why all major battery safety standards have requirements for vibration and mechanical shock tests.
In this paper, we have developed a methodology to evaluate the structural integrity of a battery pack against drop, vibration, and mechanical shock using simulation. AIS 156 requirements for swappable batteries have been considered for load parameters of these simulations, and boundary conditions have been kept similar to physical testing. Implicit and explicit analysis were carried out to simulate drop, vibration, and mechanical shock. Study of stress and displacement of components in this analysis can be used for design optimization, thus saving overall time and cost of development.