Simulation tools for streamlined battery testing efforts
UL Solutions supports customers across battery manufacturing and research, as well as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), through the development of software and hardware solutions. We provide software tools that enable more efficient product design, accelerate development and reduce overall costs.
What we offer
Our portfolio of offerings includes models of varying complexity that simulate battery performance. These models are designed, implemented, parameterized, and validated using real testing data generated in our laboratory or supplied by customers. These tools can also be applied in real‑time applications for battery management systems (BMS) to estimate and monitor present battery state onboard.
These offerings are part of our comprehensive battery testing, modeling, diagnostics and advisory capabilities, and are driven by the extensive expertise of our team in batteries and electrochemical energy storage systems.
From testing to deployment, UL Solutions offers:
- Test design and execution
- Model concept, implementation, parameterization and validation
- Software concept, implementation, parameterization (and testing), validation (model-in-the-loop (MIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), processor-in-the-loop (PIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), and integration
- Validation at system level (battery + sensor + test bench)
Support across battery chemistries
Lithium-ion
High-energy density solutions for automotive and industrial applications
Lead-acid
Reliable modeling for traditional energy storage systems
Sodium-ion batteries
Emerging technology support for next-generation storage
Next-generation (solid-state + lithium-sulfur)
Innovative modeling for future battery technologies
Battery modeling and simulation, battery state monitoring and diagnostic tools
Our capabilities include battery modeling and simulation software as well as battery state monitoring and diagnostic tools.
Battery modeling and simulation
Implementation, parameterization and validation of battery models for performance and lifetime prediction, parameterized on specific real cell test data.
Cell modeling and simulation for performance and life
- Electrical Equivalent Circuit Mode (EECM)
- Electrochemical models
- Degradation models
- Cell understanding (ICA/DVA)
- Lead-acid models
- Lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cell models
Battery state monitoring and diagnostic
Concept, parameterization, implementation and validation from model-in-the-loop (MIL) up to hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) of functionalities for onboard battery state monitoring (BMS) for real batteries.
Onboard battery state monitoring
- Hardware development
- Low-level software development
- Monitoring lithium-ion batteries
- Monitoring LFP batteries
- Monitoring lead-acid batteries
- Real-time validation of developed functionalities (battery testing with sensors)
Why choose UL Solutions?
Customized test setup for your model
According to the software solution needed, specific testing setup can be built to parameterize specific battery phenomenon or onboard functionality.
Testing and development
We offer a full package of solutions. You can test your batteries in our laboratories and develop battery hardware and software solutions with our team.
White box solutions
We offer full open battery software without license fees and maintenance costs, to fully support our customers.
Customized testing procedures
We support you in designing the proper testing procedures and protocols needed to test your battery and build your battery software.
+15 years of experience in batteries
We are a team of battery experts in the field for more than 15 years.
Software for your battery
We have extensive experience and knowledge in all electrochemical energy storage systems, which span from lithium-ions to lead-acid.
UL Solutions leverages extensive experience in battery evaluation
Our team of experts, including leading battery researchers, plays a critical role in advancing battery performance and safety. For more on our services, read our guide.
Frequently asked questions
- How do we work?
Customers can build their software with the help of our experts. You can bring your own cell and battery data, or you can test your battery fully at our laboratory. In either case, the model or functionalities will be validated in all the operational ranges by means of independent validation data or directly in a setup where the battery sensor is mounted and tested on real batteries.
- Who are our customers?
- Passenger vehicle OEMs and tier 1-3 suppliers
- Medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle OEMs
- Off-highway vehicle and industrial equipment OEMs
- Consumer electronics industry
- Telecommunications
- Battery cell and battery energy storage system (BESS) manufacturers
- Why do we offer the white box model?
When you develop your software solution with us, you will be fully involved in the project. You will learn how to employ the generated data to parameterize models and algorithms. The result is a piece of software that will be fully available and transparent for the end customer (fully open with transparent code).
- Which software do we employ?
Customers can suggest which software to employ during project development. We have capabilities to work with all software normally employed in the battery field, including Matlab/Simulink, Python, C/C++, Comsol, Ansys, etc.
- Why is testing fundamental?
Testing is a fundamental part in parameterizing and validating models and onboard functionalities for batteries. Every cell is different in terms of multiple factors (size, shape, chemistry, materials, electrolyte, high energy versus. high power). Therefore, if customers do not have specific data available, we always advise performing at least a minimum number of tests to characterize the specific behavior of a determined new cell. Battery software can rarely go without cell testing.
- Why does standard BMS not work properly?
Standard BMSs are designed to work “acceptably” with different cells and chemistries with a minimum number of changes. This, in turn, reduces accuracy and precision in the real time estimation of the battery state. Therefore, to improve battery utilization and maximize performance while taking into account safety, it is fundamental to develop, parameterize, and validate specific, customized functions for batteries with particular features. A typical example is the case of the lithium iron phosphate cathode-based lithium-iron battery (LFP) cells. We have extensive experience in modeling and real-time state estimation of LFP cells, gathered in universities and in industrial projects. We are able to address the typical known features of LFP cells (flatness of open circuit voltage and its hysteresis, sudden voltage increase during charging, reduced performance at low temperatures) thanks to our deep understanding of these phenomena.
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