Numerical study on thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries with liquid cooling

Abstract

A number of fires broken out in electric vehicle in recent years have raised concerns about the thermal safety of batteries. Some cases of abuse, such as overcharge and overdischarge, nail penetration, and high temperature, can make the battery temperature exceed the control. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the occurrence and propagation mechanism of thermal runaway in batteries to improve the safety of batteries. In this paper, a micro-channel cooling system is established to study its cooling effect on the battery module. The electrochemical - thermal coupling model of the battery is established to analyze the heat production and temperature changes during the battery' nail penetration process. Then a model of runaway propagation is established to analyze the heat transfer between batteries. The numerical simulation method is used to study the effect of the cooling system. The results show that the designed cooling scheme can prevent thermal runaway propagation between batteries.