Introduction #
This procedure is designed to support the commissioning of the Hibernium® battery pack cooling system. It is recommended that the system is vacuum filled in two stages to ensure that the pack is purged of all air prior to filling with coolant.
Recommended Hardware #
- 20mm hoses
- Connectors
- Typical automotive vacuum fill kit
- Pressure gauges
- 50/50 water OAT glycol ready mixed
- 1.5bar pressure relief valve
Typical automotive vac fill kit.
Do not proceed if the battery pack is not powered up. Do not allow the coolant to flow into the battery pack until the wakeup procedure has been completed.
Phase 1: System Integrity Checks #
To ensure no damage has occurred during transit, Xerotech recommends that the battery packs are checked for integrity prior to being filled.
Procedure #
- Connect the inlet and outlet of the battery together with a Y-piece connector and 20mm hose
- Connect the vacuum hose to the Y-piece connector
- Connect the airline to the vacuum kit
Connect the airline to the vacuum kit
- Close valve B
- Open valve A
- Turn on airline and pull a vacuum of -0.5bar (Do not exceed -0.5bar)
- Once -0.5bar is achieved, close valve A
- Wait for 15 minutes
- The pressure gauge should read -0.5bar
If the vacuum has not been maintained do not proceed with the coolant fill procedure and contact your Xerotech representative.
Phase 2: Coolant fill procedure #
Do not proceed if the battery pack is not powered up. Do not allow the coolant to flow into the battery pack until the wakeup procedure has been completed.
Preparation #
Ensure you have the coolant reservoir attached to the system and pre-mixed water/glycol volume sufficient to fill the complete system.
Make sure to use 50/50 OAT water glycol.
A suitable degas header tank should be used with sufficient expansion volume.
If you are unable to perform a full fill in one session, you can repeat process steps 7-12 below by taking care to ensure no air is introduced to the system.
Procedure #
- Connect the coolant system to the battery pack
- Ensure the header tank position is the highest point in the circuit
- Attach the vacuum kit to the header tank and fill port as per the manufacturers’ instructions
- Connect the coolant fill hose to the vacuum kit inlet and ensure that it is fed to the bottom of the coolant drum through a sealed grommet
- Close valve B and open valve A
- Attach the airline to the vac kit and pull a vacuum of -0.5bar (Do not exceed -0.5bar)
- Once you achieve -0.5bar close valve B and wait 5 minutes. The pressure gauge should read -0.5bar
If the vacuum has not been maintained, do not fill the battery and contact your Xerotech representative for further instructions.
- Close valve A and open valve B. The coolant should now flow into the system
To completely fill the system, it is recommended that the coolant drum is pressurized to 0.5bar.
- Once the coolant reaches the recommended levels on the degas tank, close valve B and keep valve A closed
- Remove the vac pump kit and replace the degas bottle cap
- To check the system is completely full, run the water pump for 10 minutes with an outlet pressure of circa 0.5bar. Observe the sight glass in the degas line for any evidence of air bubbles
- Turn off the water pump and check the coolant volume. If it’s less than expected, top up as required.
