Agrati’s involvement in the MARBEL H2020 project continues:
Coordinated by Eurecat – Technology Centre of Catalonia,
the new challenge is to contribute to the implementation of an ecological and light mobility technology by developing a modular and reusable battery technology for Electric Vehicle.
MARBEL will develop and demonstrate a complete battery pack, subcomponents, an ultra-fast charging solution, and a thermal system to cool battery cells more efficiently, which will be included in a battery management system with a smart cell manager and integrated wireless communications.
“The MARBEL battery management system is not tailored to any specific battery and, thus, will make possible its adaptation to a large variety of cells, modules and batteries with different sizes, voltages, and capacity,” said Alberto Gómez, Battery Technology Transfer Manager at Eurecat and MARBEL Technical Coordinator. “This set of battery components is expected to respond to two demanding goals: the development of batteries with a lifespan of 300,000km, almost doubling the lifespan of current batteries in the market, and the possibility to reduce the charging time by 25%.”
The battery solution will be modular, with modules being easy to pack together and disassemble, easing the manufacturing and dismantling of different battery configurations sharing the same production process and common elements. MARBEL will develop and qualify future and innovative performances and safety-related test procedures of developed functionalities, such as the use of miniaturised housings, a flexible test-bench simulating integration of EV conditions, and Artificial Intelligence as a tool to reduce the time of laboratory experiments.
“These technologies will optimise the repair, maintenance, and recycling processes, maintaining the value of the new batteries, reducing the risks for the operators, the cost, and the environmental impact,” adds Gómez.
The first year of the project, which started in January 2021, has dealt with the requirements of the MARBEL battery, considering aspects such as functionality, safety, modularity, dismantling, second-life applications based on the circular economy, recycling, and eco-design guidelines and approaches, amongst others. After the first six months of analysing the requirements, a second phase began which involved thermal management, module design, ultra-fast charging strategy conception, and the development of a Battery Management System (BMS).
The second phase of the project centres on the thermal and electric characterisation, and modelling of battery cells. Additionally, there will be a focus on the advanced estimation algorithms for BMS applications, the functional safety analysis, the weldless electrical cell-to-cell and module-to-module connections, the communications and sensors integration, and BMS architecture definition. Moreover, materials involving recycled aluminium alloys are being investigated to ensure the crucial mechanical integrity of the battery housing, also under design.