Crashworthiness Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Battery Packs Using Honeycomb Structures and Explicit Dynamic Analysis

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science & Technology, Royal University of Bhutan, 21101 Phuentsholing, Bhutan
² Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Vermont State University, 05061 Vermont, USA
³ Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, College of Science & Technology, Royal University of Bhutan, 21101 Phuentsholing, Bhutan

^* Corresponding author: agarwala.cst@rub.edu.bt

Abstract

The battery pack system is crucial to safeguard battery units during any collision. The crashworthiness of battery packs could be improved with the incorporation of honeycomb structures. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the structural characteristics of battery encasing using ANSYS explicit dynamic analysis. The modal analysis is conducted to determine the natural frequency, mode shape, and peak displacement values. The CAD model of the battery pack is developed in Creo parametric design software. The use of a honeycomb structure enabled the reduction of the effect of impact on battery units. At the time of the collision, the honeycomb structure would absorb maximum crash impact and would save the battery unit cells from major damage. The natural frequency of a battery pack with a honeycomb structure has a higher first, 2^nd, and 3^rd natural frequency. At the time of impact and without any honeycomb structure, the internal energy of the battery unit is 1021.8mJ while with the honeycomb lattice structure, it is 0.80376mJ. The results have shown that with the incorporation of a honeycomb structure, there is a substantial reduction in the internal energy of the cell with the incorporation of the lattice structure.