The growth in development of hybrid and all-electric drive technologies will see a commensurate increase in the need for suitable test tools for energy storage systems. The lithium-ion packs typically used in electric cars usually weigh between 200kg and 700 kg, or even more. This high mass, in combination with the potential fire hazard of the batteries, has prompted the crash test specialist Messring to develop its new M=SLED Modular.
The sled has a carriage consisting of two parts and can carry various modules in its center, each compatible with the chassis in both longitudinal and transverse direction. A container module is provided for battery tests to determine whether batteries do not suffer critical internal damage even at high acceleration.
The entire sled – including the stainless-steel container integrated in the module – has been made as lightweight as possible in order to offset the high payload of the battery packs. Messring notes that the lightweight construction allows the necessary speeds and deceleration pulses to be achieved with PU and bending bar brakes without overloading the facility equipment.
Furthermore, the container prevents an uncontrolled spread of the fire in case of emergency and, in addition, the fire can be controlled by flooding the container with extinguishant. The entire module can then be easily and quickly separated from the chassis and transported to a suitable location for further extinguishing or controlled burning.
The company notes that required testing of the batteries in the X and Y axes is also easy to implement thanks to the option of mounting the module in longitudinal and transverse direction. Besides the container module, a standard module with a common mounting grid and dimensions of 2.800 x 1.800mm is also available. This allows the sled to be used for tests of other systems and offers new options when it comes to test operations thanks to easy module exchange. For example, sensors and loggers can be prepared in parallel for test series or different setups on the modules and only need to be connected to the data acquisition system which remains on the sled.
