A Swedish company, Aliaro, recently showcased its battery cell simulator (BCS), which can help improve the performance of electric vehicles. The company's battery cell simulator is capable of assisting users in verifying the functionality of battery management systems (BMS).

This system can simultaneously simulate battery cells and sensors to ensure that communication, safety functions, cell balancing, and fault monitoring algorithms operate as expected. The system's effectiveness was demonstrated at an event organized by Emerson (formerly National Instruments).

Aliaro explained that when testing embedded software on battery management systems (BMS), it is often impractical to conduct necessary verification tests using a complete test system due to safety, availability, or cost considerations. "The simulator allows test teams to verify BMS functionality in a laboratory environment without using real batteries. It can be used for production testing and verification testing, enabling a unified test workflow," Aliaro stated in a release.

Aliaro emphasized that its battery cell simulator combines electrochemical models and empirical data to simulate the behavior of lithium-ion battery cells, accurately predicting battery performance under different operating conditions. The system can also be used to evaluate the impact of various battery design parameters (such as electrode thickness and porosity) on battery performance, providing reference for optimizing battery system design in electric vehicle applications. Additionally, battery models can be deployed on the test system to test battery characteristics using real batteries.

Aliaro stated: "By optimizing battery design and evaluating battery performance, electric vehicle manufacturers can improve vehicle performance, including increased range, shorter charging times, and higher overall efficiency."

The company also pointed out that using the battery cell simulator reduces the need for physical testing of battery cells, saving time and resources and making battery system development for electric vehicle applications faster and more cost-effective.

Furthermore, the battery cell simulation module comes standard with open-circuit, short-circuit, and ground hardware fault insertion functions to simulate or replace real batteries. The system can use either emulated hardware or mathematical models in Simulink to simulate all characteristics of battery cells or battery packs.