Presenter: Stefano Benanti, R&D materials engineer, Hutchinson
Battery cooling (BC) systems are frequently composed of several parallel branches, each leading to and away from a series of cooling plates. As a correct flow distribution in each branch and overall pressure drop are a key requirement from every customer, numerical computation is extremely important from the first stages of each project: the number of components and their dimensions have a relevant impact on the total cost and it is thus necessary to quickly provide results already in the Request for Quotation (RFQ) phase.The 3D computation of such cases, albeit feasible, takes a relevant amount of time and makes it more costly (both in terms of computational power and of necessary software licenses) to quickly provide results. The goal is then to develop a quicker method to provide results and allow for the necessary optimization cycles.
Altair Activate® was chosen by Hutchinson to develop a library of ROMs representing different circuit components through which is possible to create 1D models able to respond quickly and precisely to such demands.