Along with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), we have developed three coupled thermal-electric models that provide a realistic analysis of battery performance both inside and outside battery cells. With this extension, you can choose between the equivalent circuit and distributed electrical models, depending on the desired level of detail for your model.

Our models include the NTG Equivalent Circuit, the NTG Distributed, and the NREL Equivalent Circuit models.  The NTG Equivalent Circuit model is the simplest to build and easiest to calibrate. It has only two electrical input parameters and a simple parameter extraction procedure.  The NTG Distributed model applies the NTG Equivalent Circuit electrical equations on an element-level basis to calculate voltage and current density distributions across the faces of the electrodes and computes localized heating effects.  The NREL Equivalent Circuit  model is similar to the NTG Equivalent Circuit model, but has additional R-C pairs in the electrical circuit that add time constants into the voltage equation for a more detailed and accurate analysis with highly transient drive cycles.