Battery packs are designed to last a decade or more in harsh environments, preferably without the need to be serviced or repaired. Therefore it is important to carry out comprehensive pack testing.
Control System
It is important that the battery pack control system behaves in a predictable manner and maintains the safe operation of the pack under all conditions. The control system will have been tested at software level and with Hardware in the Loop (HIL). However, it is also important that it is tested at complete pack and system level.
- Wake-up and Shut-down control
- Contactor Close / Open
- Isolation Measurement
- Information broadcast
- Control limits
- Charge/Discharge exceeded handshake
- Voltage and current limit control
- Over temperature
- Thermal
- Pump request
- Heat / Cool request
- Temperature Sensing
- Charger handshake
- SOX estimation accuracy
- Balancing
Performance
The pack will have to deliver energy and power over a range of temperatures, states of charge and aged conditions.
- Pack Capacity
- vs temperature
- vs discharge power
- Pack Powermap
- vs temperature
- vs SoC
- Fast Charge Power and Time
- vs temperature
Mechanical
- Drop test
- Vibration
- Crush
- Impact with projectile
- Environmental
- Dust Ingress
- Water Ingress
- High Pressure Washer
- Pressure Change +/-
- Humidity
- Crash
Thermal
The thermal control of the battery pack is important for safety, performance and long term ageing. A number of parameters need to be measured and checked at complete pack build level.
- External heat source
- Cooling rate
- Cooling flow versus backpressure
Electrical
- Isolation
- External Short
Abuse Testing
The battery pack needs to be safe and hence a number of abuse test conditions will need to be performed. These tests are likely to be expensive and required heavily instrumented packs and test facilities.
Legislative Testing
Early on in the design the requirements should have been set for the operation of the battery pack including the service, repair and recycling. These application and use requirements will define the legislative test requirements.