Use the Load Cycle node to specify a generic load cycling boundary condition in time-dependent simulations, where the switch between charge and discharge depends on the resulting cell voltage, current, elapsed time, or user-defined conditions.

The cycle is defined by adding Current, Voltage, and Rest child nodes. Also Subloop, C Rate, and Power child nodes can be added.

The node is available as boundary node applicable to exterior boundaries to electrode domains, or is activated as a child node to an Electrode Surface, a Thin Porous Electrode, a Perforated Electrode Surface or a Highly Conductive Porous Electrode parent node when the Load Cycle electrode phase potential condition has been selected on the parent node.

When a Load Cycle node is applied on the exterior boundary to an electrode domain, the Load type can be set to either Galvanostatic, Potentiostatic, or Potentiostatic and galvanostatic. When the node is active as a child node to an Electrode Surface, a Thin Porous Electrode, a Perforated Electrode Surface or a Highly Conductive Porous Electrode parent node, the load cycle can be set to either Potentiostatic or Potentiostatic and galvanostatic.

For Galvanostatic, only Current, Rest, and Subloop child nodes can be added to the Load Cycle. In the Lumped Battery interface, and the Lithium-Ion Battery interface, if Define cell state of charge (SOC) and initial charge inventory is enabled on the interface top node, also C rate is available as a child node.

For Potentiostatic only Voltage and Subloop child nodes can be added to the Load Cycle.

For Potentiostatic and galvanostatic, all child nodes are available for defining the load cycle. However, the Potentiostatic and galvanostatic option is implemented by adding an additional dependent variable, which in some cases may be a less stable option than Galvanostatic or Potentiostatic.

Enabling Use elapsed time only will define all events as explicit in time, which usually is a more accurate option.

Disabling Use elapsed time only will define all events as implicit events, which supports dynamic load switching based on voltage, current and user-defined conditions. Use elapsed time only does not support Subloop child nodes.

The cycling stop condition can be used to define when the load cycle should be terminated. Use the condition None (the default) to loop over the added child nodes indefinitely.

When the stop condition is fulfilled, the applied current is set to 0 for the Potentiostatic and galvanostatic and Galvanostatic load cycle options, whereas for the Potentiostatic option event switching between the voltage set values is halted. Check Enable stop condition in default solver to also stop the time-dependent solver at this point in the simulation.

A User defined condition can be used to trigger a cycling termination based on the value of any globally available expression in the model. The transition will be defined to occur when the Induser expression switches from negative to positive. For instance, to define a temperature-dependent continuation condition to occur when the maximum temperature variable T_max exceeds 50[degC], define Induser as T_max-50[degC]. (Here, T_max can for instance be a variable defined using a Definitions > Nonlocal Couplings > Maximum operator on a domain.)

By enabling the Applied voltage and Applied current checkboxes, the corresponding probes are automatically defined under Definitions in the model tree.

These probe options are not available when the Load cycle node is used as a child node to the Electrode Surface and related nodes.