Accumulator : Alexander Porrone

400 Volt Accumulator (Battery)

I played a key role in the electrical design and fabrication of a 400 volt battery for an FSAE race car. This battery was the first of it’s kind and in it’s first design iteration. I spent a total of 18 months working on this project. The battery is comprised of 665 LGHG2 18650 battery cells wired into a 7P95S configuration, outputting 400V and containing 7.2kWh of energy. The cells are housed in a CFRP/GFRP case that features seven discrete sections and eight maintenance hatches.

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Initial Design

Working with the WFR team, I developed the high voltage design of the accumulator depicted below. The accumulator underwent many design iterations to account for a design that met our constraints and design goals. This included the selection and placement of the battery management system, cell selection, safety circuitry, etc.

Final Design

Renders of our design were created in Keyshot. I worked with one other member of the team to create renders of key subsystems on the WRF race car.

Cell Fabrication

Fabrication of all high voltage components is shown below. All high voltage fabrication was performed with another key member of the WFR team and myself.

Grounded Low Voltage Fabrication

95 voltage tap wires and 50 temperature probes had to be manual wired to the 665 cells in the accumulator. This was performed by a small group of people and myself over the course of 2 weeks.

Competition

The accumulator was taken to an FSAE competition in Lincoln, Nebraska. These are pictures of the work leading up to, and passing of technical inspection. Competition seals had to be placed on the accumulator before racing to ensure no tampering.

Contact Information

Get In touch

(519) 300 – 5667

Address: London, Ontario, Canada

Email: [email protected]