PITTSBURGH, June 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The world is one
step closer to more affordable and eco-friendly electric vehicles
(EV) thanks to the efforts of ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS), General Motors
LLC, the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) and ESim, which are working to design better,
safer and longer-lasting lithium-ion EV batteries. The team's
efforts have led to the standard inclusion of battery models in the
latest release of ANSYS® Fluent® software,
which is a significant milestone in advancing EV design
efficiency.
Over the last two and half years, the team worked on a
DOE-funded project, Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive
Vehicle Batteries (CAEBAT), to combine new and existing battery
models into engineering simulation software to shorten design
cycles and optimize batteries for increased performance, safety and
lifespan. The team is modeling thermal management,
electrochemistry, ion transport and fluid flow. As a result of the
work, a battery model is now standard in ANSYS Fluent, a leading
computational fluid dynamics solution. This seamless Fluent
capability helps battery developers break the time-consuming cycle
of design-build-test-break for prototyping and manufacturing.
"The emphasis in the software integration has been to provide a
flexible array of modeling choices that can support several
categories of battery researchers, cell manufacturers, pack
integrators and vehicle manufacturers that deliver fast and
accurate results," said Jan Aase,
director of vehicle systems research lab at General Motors. "With a
concise plan for rapid deployment to the industry, the software
solutions created through this project are already helping
designers and engineers at GM to accelerate the pace of battery
innovation and development for future electric-drive vehicles."
By drawing on a unique approach pioneered at NREL, a DOE
national laboratory, collaborators integrated disparate physical
battery scales (electrodes, cell, pack and full vehicle) and
multiple physical phenomena (electrochemical, thermal, fluid and
structural) – factors that have been a key barrier for effective
simulation. In addition, the team blended established detailed 3-D
field simulation technologies with systems-level simulation. They
also extended the reach of the technology by ensuring that these
new tools can interact with current and future battery models.
"ANSYS is well known for providing reliable simulation
technology to enable sustainable design across a wide range of
industries, including automotive," said Sandeep Sovani, director of global automotive
industry at ANSYS. "The CAEBAT project has been a great opportunity
for ANSYS. We are partnering with other recognized leaders in EV
battery technology to develop and deliver powerful modeling tools
that can be used by all battery manufacturers to accelerate
production of safe, reliable, high-performance and long-lasting EV
batteries that make vehicles more fuel-efficient and
sustainable."
Throughout the remainder of 2014, the team will refine
automation techniques for battery cell and pack-level simulations
and continue to validate the models with experiments. Collaborators
plan to implement cycle-life and abuse (such as overheating)
models. NREL's multi-particle model, with ability to model mixture
of active materials with different particle sized, will be
incorporated as well. At the pack level, state-of-the-art
simulation is further advanced by developing innovative
reduced-order models, derived and calibrated from the cell-level
models and carefully validated through experiments — all designed
to enable a balance between model fidelity and computational cost.
These efforts contribute to the development of a complete battery
cell and pack-level design tools that will be available in the
future product releases.
GM awarded ANSYS a subcontract to create battery software tools
that will help accelerate development of next-generation EV
batteries. This U.S. DOE-funded project is a result of a
competitive procurement through NREL that was presented to GM in
2011.
This activity is part of the DOE EV Everywhere Grand Challenge
managed by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy.
Automotive leaders will share other best practices beginning at
8:30 am today during the ANSYS
Convergence Conference in Detroit in the Westin Southfield Detroit,
in Southfield, Michigan.
About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS brings clarity and insight to
customers' most complex design challenges through fast, accurate
and reliable engineering simulation. Our technology enables
organizations ― no matter their industry ― to predict with
confidence that their products will thrive in the real world.
Customers trust our software to help ensure product integrity and
drive business success through innovation. Founded in 1970, ANSYS
employs more than 2,700 professionals, many of them expert in
engineering fields such as finite element analysis, computational
fluid dynamics, electronics and electromagnetics, and design
optimization. Headquartered south of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., ANSYS has more than 75 strategic sales
locations throughout the world with a network of channel partners
in 40+ countries. Visit www.ansys.com for more information.
ANSYS also has a strong presence on the major social
channels. To join the simulation conversation, please visit:
www.ansys.com/Social@ANSYS
ANSYS and any and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and
feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or
trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries.
All other brand, product, service and feature names or
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
ANSS-C
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Contact
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Media
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Tom
Smithyman
724.514.3076
tom.smithyman@ansys.com
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Investors
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Annette Arribas,
CTP
724.514.1782
annette.arribas@ansys.com
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SOURCE ANSYS, Inc.