Altair Adds Battery System Simulation Software to the Altair Partnership Alliance

Altair announces the addition of the CellMod Virtual Battery by Sendyne to the Altair Partner Alliance (APA). 

CellMod is a lithium-ion virtual battery capable of predicting cell and pack behavior, including thermal behavior, with an accuracy of better than 97% under a wide range of test conditions. Utilizing an electrochemical model, CellMod is packaged as a functional mock-up unit (FMU), allowing it to be integrated into most major simulation packages, such as Altair Activate, via the open industry standard functional mock-up interface (FMI).

The CellMod FMU accepts inputs including current, ambient temperature and time-step, and will output voltage, cell internal temperature, surface temperature, SOC and any other cell internal state variable. In addition, CellMod can simulate behavior of aged cells and can be scaled to represent parallel and serial combinations of cells via Sendyne’s companion FMU BasicPackMod.

Unlike EC models, CellMod accounts for physical processes taking place inside the cells, including diffusion in solids, diffusion in electrolytic solutions, reaction kinetics, charge transport, heat transport, etc. Because of this, CellMod can predict battery cell behavior with a high degree of accuracy.

“Sendyne has developed the first ever lithium-ion, virtual, physics-based battery model for real-time co-simulation. To support the growing market demand of electric vehicles, Altair is thrilled to introduce this new capability to Altair HyperWorks customers as more physics-based battery simulation is needed. Engineers will now have the ability to virtually test battery packs with higher degrees of accuracy in their design models for hardware and software in the loop, thermal simulation, online battery prediction and more,” says Richard Yen, SVP, global automotive and industry verticals team, Altair. 

The default battery model for CellMod is the Panasonic NCR18650A. This version may be used as a stand-in representing a generic lithium-ion battery – and still provide better accuracy than what is offered by an equivalent circuit model. For design teams requiring a high level of accuracy (~97 percent or to the level of statistical variation) cell-specific versions that represent any type of lithium-ion cells, from NMC and LMO to LFP and NCA, and all iterations of these cells, can be quickly tailored.

"Sendyne is excited to join the Altair Partner Alliance and believes that CellMod will help Altair's automotive, aerospace and e-mobility customers build faster, better, and more cost-effective battery-powered systems," says John Milios, CEO, Sendyne.

To learn more about the CellMod FMU, visit the introductory webinar, on October 17, 2019 at 10 a.m. EST, hosted by Altair and presented by Sendyne.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.