Q-Bat 1.1.1 – new release updates

23.12.2021

Here it is! The long-awaited Release 1.1.1. It comes with many significant changes that will greatly improve the experience of using Q-Bat. See them below!

Q-Bat is a software that is tailored for the virtual, thermal prototyping of batteries. It works quicker than CFD, yet gives a very detailed 3-D temperature distribution.

 

GUI

By far, the most anticipated feature – GUI, is finally ready. Now you do not need to do almost anything by script. You can:

  • import the mesh assembly
  • scale the mesh and move components
  • automatically recognize prototypes
  • delete unwanted components
  • find contacts
  • apply material properties and boundary conditions

All of that is now possible in the graphical user interface, which is much more user-friendly than scripts. Of course, if you prefer having a script-based model, it is still possible to have it that way.

 

Other improvements

Import of mesh assemblies

It is now possible to import a whole mesh assembly into Q-Bat. You don’t have to build your model component by component anymore. You can mesh your geometry in your favourite mesher and import the whole mesh assembly as a CGNS or GMSH file.

Q-Bat will detect prototypes automatically, and you will only need to assign material properties and tell Q-Bat which prototypes are battery cells, which are cooling plates, and which are other elements.

Splitting channels in cooling plates

The cooling channels in the cooling plates had to be relatively simple until now. It had to be a single pipe without any splitting. Now it is possible to model much more complex channels, have them split into two, three, or more pipes and then merge again.

Q-Bat also automatically calculates the mass flow distribution in intersecting pipes based on pressure drop.

Convection

It is now possible to simulate convection on unstructured meshes with velocity field interpolation.

You can simulate the airflow in the battery pack in an external CFD tool and then import the velocity field to Q-Bat. Q-Bat will then be able to simulate heat convection in the battery pack based on that velocity field.

 

There are, of course, several minor changes as well. These include:

  • Cooling plate: Added select non-hidden walls functionality
  • Model: Switched from displaySolution to plotSolution
  • Contacts: Speedup in contact detection
  • Contacts: Added contacts display function before assemblation – displayContacts
  • Boundary Conditions: Added BC overriding
  • Assemblies: Add delete function
  • Components: Add delete function
  • Simulink: Improved handling of models
  • Simulink: Changed default mode from compilation to interpretation
  • Utils: Mesh surface and edges splitting based on an angle
  • Removed unused functions

If you need to try out complex geometries in our software, reach out to us, and we will talk about a full version trial.