COMSOL Blog

Why Model Electrochemical Applications?

Electrochemical | Posted on April 18th, 2013 by

It’s always been hard to place the field of electrochemistry into a more traditional engineering field. Departments and institutions that focus on electrochemical applications can be found within the faculties of Chemical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Physical Chemistry, and even Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering. I believe this is because electrochemistry is heavily involved in applications that are quite varied — and in some ways quite new. Electrochemical applications need to be studied before they can be understood and optimized, but doing this experimentally doesn’t give all the answers.

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Electroplating Simulations Cut Down on Wasted Metal

Chemical | Posted on February 4th, 2013 by

Electrodeposition is the process of making a substance adhere to an object through electrochemical reactions. Sometimes the substance is available in the solution form and other times it is a solid object too, and needs to undergo electrochemical reactions in order to dissolve into solution; often as part of the electrodeposition process. Electrodeposition can be an important part of the refining process of certain metals, such as copper, silver, and gold and is often referred to as electrorefining or electrowinning. Another form of electrodeposition is known as “electroplating”.

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Lithium-Ion Battery Model

Chemical | Posted on January 21st, 2013 by

On Friday I wrote about designing safer lithium-ion batteries, and showed you a few resources for helping people do just that. Now I’d like to show you a lithium-ion battery model and briefly run through how it can be created in COMSOL Multiphysics in three sequential studies.

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Designing a Safer Lithium-Ion Battery

Chemical | Posted on January 18th, 2013 by

Unless you live under a rock, you’ll have heard lithium-ion batteries mentioned a lot lately. Last week in Boston, a lithium-ion battery caught fire in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, forcing them to ground all Dreamliner planes until further notice. This type of battery makes it possible to pack lots of power into a small package. What can be done to make it operate safely?

Read more on: Designing a Safer Lithium-Ion Battery

Your One-Stop Source for Batteries and Fuel Cells

Chemical | Posted on August 15th, 2012 by

It has always been the flexibility of COMSOL Multiphysics that attracted people from the fuel cell and battery industries. The other software back in the day did not adequately support the ability to model the electrochemical equations that were required to properly describe the behavior of their appliances. As we noticed that more and more of these vendors were interested in COMSOL Multiphysics, this led to a great increase in COMSOL’s knowledge and ability to model these applications. For example, a Batteries and Fuel Cells Module was recently released. Now I would like to provide a page here where a number of these resources can be accessed — your one-stop source for batteries and fuel cells.

Read more on: Your One-Stop Source for Batteries and Fuel Cells

Why do Lithium-ion Batteries Need to be Cooled?

COMSOL News 2012 | Posted on June 15th, 2012 by

Previously, I wrote a blog post about Fiat using modeling to simulate the cooling of their lithium-ion battery packs. This got me wondering how lithium-ion batteries actually get hot in the first place.

Read more on: Why do Lithium-ion Batteries Need to be Cooled?

Another Danger with Corrosion

Acoustics | Posted on June 12th, 2012 by

It’s long been known that a danger with corrosion is that it compromises the structures that it affects. This is particularly relevant for the naval industry where material failure leads to leaks and the like. Now, another danger is becoming apparent.

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The Difficulties with Working with Nanoparticles

Electrochemical | Posted on May 21st, 2012 by

I was just reading one of my favorite sites, phys.org, about the difficulties of working with nanostructures. In the world of batteries, you want to maximize charge, while minimizing volume and weight. This means that the nano-world is starting to take hold, but, as has been discovered with many other applications where nanotechnology is being applied, it is very difficult to control the material properties in this world.

Read more on: The Difficulties with Working with Nanoparticles

Corrosion Course Introduces Attendees to New Module

Corrosion Module | Posted on May 4th, 2012 by

This week we ran a series of three one-day courses. The first two days centered on modeling batteries and fuel cells, as well as electrodeposition applications. Today, the course looked at simulating corrosion. This was a great opportunity for a number of our customers and other interested people to try out the new Corrosion Module.

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A Lot Happening with the New Corrosion Module

Corrosion Module | Posted on May 2nd, 2012 by

This Friday, a training course in modeling corrosion is being run at the COMSOL Burlington office. Participants will be introduced to the new Corrosion Module and will be led through a number of different exercises.

Read more on: A Lot Happening with the New Corrosion Module

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