Responding to soaring demand from the UK automotive industry for advanced battery safety testing, Nuneaton-based Horiba MIRA has invested £1.5 million in a new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory and Battery Abuse Facility.

The new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory is the UK’s first battery vibration test facility - or ‘shaker’ as it is known in the industry - to also offer electrical and thermal cycling. It enables battery charging and discharging while in use, along with climatic capability, to carry out tests in ambient conditions ranging from -40°C to 100°C.

The new twin-vibration facility can operate in three axes and has the capacity to vibrate up to one tonne of mass, making it ideal for testing the biggest electric vehicle (EV) batteries on the market to regulatory standards such as UN38.3 and ECEReg100.

The unique ‘shaker’ is the second part of a recent £1.5 million investment by Horiba MIRA into battery safety related testing, which includes its new Battery Abuse Test Facility (BAT) that opened in July. The BAT facility provides abuse and safety testing at cell, module and pack level, in all-weather conditions, supported by high speed cameras, thermal imaging and gas detection.

This investment significantly strengthens Horiba MIRA’s comprehensive battery development capability, enabling end-to-end engineering and test solutions for cell, modules and complete battery packs.

The two new facilities answer demand from the UK automotive industry for advanced battery safety testing capabilities, many of which were not previously available in the UK or did not meet the latest industry needs.

In fact, the distinct advantage of the new ‘shaker’ is that it can electrically and thermally cycle a battery during vibration testing and is fully programmable to reflect actual vehicle duty cycles – a unique function in the UK that will help provide test results that are representative of real-world conditions.

Lower product development costs
Another major benefit of using the Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory is that tests that have traditionally been performed individually can now be done simultaneously. This reduces the overall test duration and the number of test samples required, providing the added bonus of lower product development costs.

Eamonn Martin, Solution Manager for Electrification and Environmental Validation at Horiba MIRA, said: “The environmental and societal drive towards zero emissions transport has increased the need for more advanced battery engineering and the testing capability to support that.

At Horiba MIRA we have been developing batteries and testing them for our customers for almost 20 years, this latest investment complements our existing EV battery development portfolio with additional capability to validate the latest battery technologies.

“Our new Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory, or ‘shaker’ as it is known, along with the Battery Abuse Facility opened earlier this year, will enable our customers to access a comprehensive range of battery test capabilities – regardless of size, weight and complexity – with the option of a fully managed test service.”

Horiba MIRA specialises in developing batteries for niche applications and provides OEMS and Tier Ones with a comprehensive in-house design, development, build and test solution for battery systems. The company’s Battery Test Management Solution (BTMS) takes care of the complete testing programme including all logistics - saving time and cost for customers.