S A F E B AT T E R I E S
18
months is the duration of
the longest test series with
prototype battery packs
The fi rst stop is the electrical test facility. “We’re
charging at full power here, boosting to full charge
2
in an hour or two. Several thousands of times. Our
power consumption is therefore similar to that
of the entire Phoenix Contact production in the
neighborhood.”
No wonder then that, at the end of this test run,
weeks of rest the strained
energy sources receive be-
fore they are sent back
the test objects are left to sit for one or two weeks
until they are returned to the client. “The chem-
ical reactions in the battery don’t end abruptly;
they continue for awhile,” explains the head of the
battery laboratory. “The danger of ignition during
transit would be too great to return them imme-
diately.”
ments. The pitiful endurance runners can’t avoid
Shaking for the shipping industry the next martyrdom test: the T-shocker. “For ten to
Things are getting mechanical. We march to the thirty days, the battery pack must be able to with-
next torture chamber. It sounds like a fairground: stand a temperature drop of -40 °C to +75 °C. These
“This is our shaker, our shaking chamber. Here are very typical demands in the automotive indus-
we shake the battery pack for about two weeks try,” Michael Jonca says, letting us marvel. “Here,
uninterrupted, combined with an environmental the strength of the outer casing is strained.”
chamber so that we can simulate heat and cold.”
The dimensions of the test stand, which is as tall Last hurdle: the swimming pool
as a house, are enormous. “We lift the test object If the test object is still in a good mood up to this
together with its aggregate frame, which we’ve point, the next torture looming ahead will place it
manufactured, into place with a fi ve-ton crane.” in the plunge pool. “This large pool is brand new,”
The steel shaking plate alone weighs 35 tons. It’s Jonca’s voice echoes through the specialized swim-
spring-mounted in the foundation, otherwise the ming space. On the ceiling is the large crane that
ground would tremble in a wide radius around it,” lifts the batteries into cold or warm water. “We can
reports Thomas Worsch. Jonca adds, “Here, we also also heat the water.”
test components from shipping and industry, not A team of engineers and staff is responsible for
just batteries, but also entire control cabinets.” The each battery pack, since the respective test proce-
test stand vibrates using the “uniaxial vibration dures are completely different. “At the moment,
method”. To shake a test object in all three dimen- we’re testing twelve different test objects, and
sions, its position on the test system is changed. therefore also twelve different energy sources, for
The test stand also has one more nasty surprise their respective electric vehicles.” If you accompa-
for the specimens: “We also simulate a mechanical ny the nice Mr. Jonca through his torture chambers,
shock, such as driving over a curb. That’s a load of you can be sure that the test objects that escape
up to 50 g on the test object.” unharmed here will endure almost any torture with
The batteries sometimes spend six months,
ease. (lo)
sometimes even almost a year and a half, in the
Phoenix Testlab, depending on customer require-
38
UPDATE 4/20
The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine
phoenix-testlab.de/en/start