Parallel optimization of design and manufacturing—Carbon fiber battery pack for electric vehicles

Abstract

According to the requirement of “structural design and manufacturing feasibility” of the electric vehicle battery pack, the design of carbon fiber composite material instead of metal material is studied in this paper. Firstly, the cross-section performance of the composite battery pack was determined by the principle of equal stiffness. Moreover, the different layups were verified from a manufacturing point of view and the advantages and disadvantages of the three improvements, linear shear, V-shear, and V-shear + linear shear, were compared. Secondly, the three steps of free size optimization, size optimization, and layup sequence optimization were carried out for the lower box to find the lightest structure; the upper box was directly reinforced with a “King” type to alleviate the excessive amplitude. The total mass of the final pack is 14.09 kg, with a weight reduction rate of 56%. Finally, the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method in ANSYS Fluent is chosen to simulate the curing process. The molding results of four injection methods are discussed, while resin viscosity and pressure are considered to find the optimal process parameters. The work in this paper provides a reference for the lightweight application of composite materials in new energy vehicles.