The battery pack has to be packaged into an location within the car. The enclosure team will design the enclosure that will hold the battery pack and any associated circuit boards. The safety of all passengers must be guaranteed in the event of thermal runaway propagation.
Goals
To create a enclosure that will securely hold the battery pack while still be easily accessible for maintenance. The enclosure also has to make sure the batteries will operate at an acceptable temperature.
Constraints Regulations
Must be removable or lockable for battery pack impound during competition.
Electrically Isolate the battery pack from the rest of the car.
>1MOhm between battery terminals and chassis, up to 500V applied (8.4.A)
Thermally control the enclosure temperature between 0~ 60 Degrees Celsius, under 45 degrees Celsius for charging (LG Chem Datasheet for LG MJ1)
Secured to the chassis to prevent detachment in the event of a crash (8.4.B)
Provide mounting for critical mechanical components of BPS - the fuses (8.5.A)
Must allow charge metering hardware to be installed (8.10)
Criteria
MSXIV is pushing for an integrated battery pack enclosure built into the structural chassis
Modules will be directly attached to the catamaran with a protective cover over them.
Able to remove battery modules/part of enclosure to create a adjustable short/long range battery pack
Scope
Activity
Must have
Material to use for battery box construction must be electrically insulating and be thermally conductive.
Designed with consideration to the center of gravity of the car. We will center load for MSXIV
Thermal management
Easily accessible for maintenance
Waterproof
Easy module mounting/detachment
Nice to have
Passive cooling to eliminate the need for fans for ventilation
Active cooling will still be present, though used less
Short/Long range battery box
Not in scope
Safety
Must have
Prevent initial thermal runaway explosions from reaching passengers
Must have enough warning time to stop the car and the passengers to exit
Temperature monitoring at as many points as reasonable
Nice to have
Thermal runaway ejecta vent paths to avoid build up of pressure and side wall blowout, leading to thermal runaway propagation
Thermistor on every cell - we have no idea which cell will fail and heat up
Not in scope
Cell interstitial material to absorb of thermal runaway via latent heat of phase change or thermal mass for thermal runaway propagation protection