liveforphysics wrote:I think a stack up of cells with some thick aluminum end plates (over sized a bit so the bands dont touch the pouch stacks) tightly snugged band clamps strapping the assembly together would give you a good mechanical retention system that provides good pressure and is low weight. You could slide in 1/16" lexan sheets on the edges of the cells before strapping the steel bands down. Any place that ships equipment on pallets would be able to put some steel band clamps on for you.
This seems like a much better solution than using foam pushing against the polycarb & cell "end caps" surface area. 4 threaded rods one for each corner of the end plates might work well too, *but* a picture of an A123 module shows 2 strap bands being used to hold the cells in compression attached to an end cap/plate at each end.
Luke, do you have any idea about what the surface pressure/compression should be on these cells when creating a stack of these aligned together? A123 states their modules meet some compliance spec for uniform compression of these cells in their module. Quoting from one of these A123 modules, perhaps used for the Chevy Volt (according to Doctorbass), it states the module has: "• Uniform compliant compression system"
You could even use this foam to fill any gaps lengthwise along the vertical cell edges of the stack at least partially up the sides to add some slight pressure to dampen vibrations & add minimal lateral support.
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Sorry for any confusion...
