Mission

The demand for battery performance tests is increasing constantly within the industry.  More test channels are needed. Therefore, the Battery Test Lab of EnergyVille has recently been successfully expanded with a state-of-the-art battery tester from the manufacturer PEC. In addition to the tester, a climate chamber from Van den Berg Klimaattechniek was installed with advanced temperature control from JUMO. The tester at EnergyVille is the second tester from manufacturer PEC. It concerns a 16-channel battery tester, ideal for testing and evaluating batteries for electric vehicles (xEV) and industrial battery modules (up to 150 volts). Until now, testing was  only limited to 80 volts. Nowadays, higher voltages are required as more cells are placed together in one module. As a result, less modules can suffice for the same amount of energy.

Solution

Batteries are sensitive for temperature differences.

The compartment size needs to correspond to the battery packs in a passenger vehicle (2m long, 1m wide and 20cm high). Therefore, EnergyVille was looking for a specialised supplier of climate chambers. The tender was achieved by Van den Berg Klimaattechniek in Reeuwijk. They were able to make the compartments in the climate chamber to the right dimensions. Tests are necessary when a product equipped with a battery will go into production. This has to do with the influence of the ambient temperature. Batteries are sensitive for temperature differences. The ageing become much faster at high temperatures, this process starts at 40 ° C. Cool temperatures also affecting the battery performance.

For the custom-built climate cabinet, EnergyVille was looking for an advanced control system that would go beyond traditional temperature controls. They came to JUMO for this request. Together with Van den Berg Klimaattechniek, JUMO's engineering team realised a customer-oriented configuration. The automation system of JUMO was used for this purpose. The system, JUMO mTRON T, provides the realization of the desired climate chamber control and is equipped by CODESYS PLC and target and web visualization.

Project results

The cooperation with Van den Berg Klimaattechniek and JUMO Meet- en Regeltechniek B.V. has resulted in a good addition to advanced equipment for the performance and lifetime tests. The battery tester is designed for laboratory and production scale and is 24/7 available in the laboratory of EnergyVille.