Design and Fabrication of Battery Packs along with Battery Management System and Thermal Management System for the Dice Electric Car

Project Title

Design and Fabrication of Battery Packs along with Battery Management System and Thermal Management System for the Dice Electric Car

Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject Summary

This project aims to support the indigenous production of Electric Vehicles (EV) in Pakistan. The project is focused on designing the battery packs along with Battery Management System and Thermal Management System for an Electric Car. This project will provide the battery pack for the prescribed load conditions. It will comprise of fabrication of battery module structure, cells orientation in battery module and their relationship with battery management and thermal management systems. This battery module will be a high voltage system so the focus will be the design of an optimum battery pack system for a range of operating conditions.

Project Objectives

• Carry out a feasibility study of electric vehicles for Pakistan’s transport sector.

• Selecting the right cells which are cheap and easily available. Choosing the right combination to arrange these cells for maximum charge cycles and range

. • Using appropriate and durable connections in the battery pack to ensure maximum safety and peak performance. The connections offering reduced mechanical and electrical losses will be designed.

• Designing a casing that would transfer the load of the battery packs evenly along with the chassis and guarantee good fatigue and creep resistance, avoid mechanical or vibration damage.

• Minimize the overall power to weight ratio of the EV by using modern weight reduction techniques.

• Cost reduction by using batteries that are cheaper, readily available, have a greater number of charge cycles and could be easily stabilized.

Project Implementation Method

1. Starting from the inner most layer of our design, a book shelf shaped aluminium heatsink is situated between the spacings within the cells in a module.

2. A thermally responsive gel sits between this heatsink and the cells, allowing uniform heating throughout the heatsink. This same gel is also present between the bed of the module case, cells and the heatsink to enable heat transfer to the the module casing and enhance metal to metal conduction.

3. The module casing is in turn glued to the cooling plate beneath, by means of a thermal adhesive, allowing even transfer of waste heat produced by the cells to the anti-freeze coolant, flowing through the channels integrated in the cooling plate.

4. The coolant is pumped into the hub which distributes the flow of coolant into the above depicted channels, allowing the heat extraction process to take place. At the end of the channels, the hot coolant is converged back into a stream and flown back into the cycle. Battery pack housing Cooling Plate Module Casing Heatsink Cells Channels

 5. Temperature sensors installed in each of the four modules feed real-time temperature readings to the programmable control unit, which in turn controls the power inlet to the pump, increasing or decreasing the coolant flow rate in the channels as needed.

6. A design modification of changing the channel flow from lengthwise to widthwise along the battery pack might improve uniformity in cooling but is subject to chassis space available.

7. The above portrayed architecture is an initial phase plan and is subject to changes if necessary.

Benefits of the Project

Pakistan is facing several multi-sectoral and multifaceted challenges. Therefore, solutions that impact several sectors in a positive way are direly needed.

Transport sector

The transportation sector is growing with a double-digit growth in Pakistan with almost a complete dependent on oil-based products. The country is spending almost USD 13 billion on the import of oil every year. If the transport sector continues to grow at the same double-digit rate, the bill for oil import is expected to reach USD 30 billion by 2025. Inherently, there is a dire need to restructure the transport sector. Since, EVs utilize electric power rather than gasoline, so half a million EVs on roads by 2025 will reduce the bill for oil imports by USD 504 million and save up to 681 million liters of imported oil. By just introducing half a million EVs, USD 470 million can be saved in terms of gasoline usage.

Environment

Pakistan has already been declared as the seventh most vulnerable country because of climate change. Burning more fossil fuels, including oil, may only deteriorate the situation further. According to the National Economic and Environment Development Study (NEEDS) report, Pakistan is expected to double its emissions by 2020 and further doubling it by 2030. Not only carbon emissions will increase but also other hazardous compounds such as Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and particulate matters (PM), PM10 and PM2.5, will also be increased in the atmosphere due to an increase in burning of fossil fuels. Over three hundred thousand people die due to poor air quality in Pakistan every year. If we introduce half a million electric vehicles by 2025, we can cut down our carbon dioxide emissions by 1.47 billion kilogram per year and can result in savings of $22.1 million in terms of carbon tax alone. In addition, it will shrink the release of NOx emissions by 1.96 million kg/year and of SO2 by 93000 kg/year.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

A working battery pack with an integrated battery management system including thermal and vibrational management optimized for the DICE electric car. 

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry TransportationOther IndustriesCore Technology Clean TechOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Climate ActionRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	67000
Lithium Iron Phosphate(LiFePo4) cells	Equipment	80	625	50000
Battery module casing	Equipment	1	10000	10000
Cell connectors	Equipment	50	100	5000
Laboratory testing	Miscellaneous	1	2000	2000