Experimental study on the suppression effect of different coolants on battery thermal runaway

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2024.0975

Abstract

Abstract: Immersion cooling has outstanding advantages in thermal management technology, with high potential and value for application, and the selection of coolants is particularly crucial. To investigate the actual performance of different coolants and their differences in suppressing battery thermal runaway, this work conducted thermal runaway experiments on 86 Ah lithium iron phosphate cells immersed in thermal oil (L-QD350), 10# transformer oil, vegetable oil (DS3 natural ester), silicone oil (50 cSt), ethylene glycol stock solution (99.9%, polyester grade), and electronic fluoride liquid (Novec-7200). The performance of these six coolants during the thermal runaway process was compared from the aspects of experimental phenomena, voltage and temperature curves, time-domain and thermal evaluation indicators of each link, and the influence of vegetable oil immersion level on the thermal runaway suppression effect was studied. The experimental results show that a large amount of white smoke is produced during the thermal runaway process of the battery cells immersed in various coolants. After being immersed in vegetable oil for a period of time, white smoke is no longer produced, while thermal oil and electronic fluoride liquid will spontaneously ignite during the thermal runaway process; Vegetable oil and ethylene glycol stock solution perform well in various time-domain and thermal evaluation indicators, while silicone oil has poor time-domain evaluation indicators and electronic fluoride liquid performs poorly in thermal evaluation indicators. In summary, vegetable oil and ethylene glycol stock solution perform better than other cooling fluids in terms of cooling effect and thermal runaway inhibition, while silicone oil and electronic fluoride liquid perform relatively poorly. The amount of vegetable oil immersion has a significant impact on thermal runaway. The larger the immersion amount, the slower the development of thermal runaway, and the lower the highest temperature on the battery surface, the less severe the thermal runaway. However, the amount of coolants should be determined based on the application conditions, cost, and specific parameters of the coolants. The research results can provide effective data support for battery thermal management systems and provide reference for the selection of coolants in submerged liquid cooling systems.

Key words: Thermal runaway, coolants, thermal management, pressure relief valve, immersion cooling

CLC Number:

FAN Wenqiang, SHI Zinan, YANG Daiming, LIANG Huishi, CHEN Ye. Experimental study on the suppression effect of different coolants on battery thermal runaway[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2024.0975.

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