Numerical simulation study on thermal runaway propagation mitigation structure of automotive battery module

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2021.0514

Abstract

Abstract:

In this paper, a structure for preventing the thermal spread of prismatic cells is studied via numerical simulation. The thermal runaway model was established for 50 A·h prismatic ternary lithium-ion batteries used in vehicles based on the thermal runaway side reaction mechanism in the electrodes and electrolyte. The model is verified by comparing it to existing research to demonstrate that the established thermal runaway model has high accuracy. Based on the verified single battery thermal runaway model, a battery module thermal protection structure was established in which each battery cell was assembled with a thermal sleeve. The bottom of the thermal sleeve was connected with a minichannel cold plate for heat dissipation. Insulation materials were filled between batteries to prevent heat from spreading to adjacent batteries due to thermal loss. The results show that the proposed thermal protection structure can effectively block the thermal spread of the battery module compared with the configuration without a thermal sleeve. Moreover, the influence of the thermal resistance of the insulation layer, the height of the thermal sleeve, and the height of the thermally conductive plate on the thermal spread of adjacent batteries was analyzed based on the proposed thermal protection structure. The research shows that the thermal resistance of the insulation layer is above 0.03 m²·K/W, and the adjacent #2 battery does not have thermal runaway. In addition, the height of the thermal sleeve should not be higher than 10 mm considering the impact of actual engineering system quality factors, and the height of the thermally conductive plate should be between 60 and 65 mm, which can be used to prevent the thermal spread of the battery module. The thermal protection structure and parameters presented in this paper provide a reference for the thermal safety design of battery packs.

Key words: lithiumion battery, thermal runaway, thermal propagation, mini-channel cooling, heat insulation material, parameter analysis

CLC Number:

TM 911

Yuanxia DONG, Hengyun ZHANG, Jiajun ZHU, Xiaobin XU, Shunliang ZHU. Numerical simulation study on thermal runaway propagation mitigation structure of automotive battery module[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2022, 11(5): 1608-1616.

Figures/Tables 10

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Table 1

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References 24

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材料	密度/(kg/m³)	比热容/[J/(kg·K)]	热导率/[W/(m·K)]	动力黏度/[kg/(m·s)]
电芯	2680	1100	λ_x =1.8，λ_y =λ_z =15.3	—
正极极柱	2719	871	202	—
负极极柱	8978	381	387.6	—
汇流排	2719	871	202	—
气凝胶	200	500	0.016	—
灌封胶	1600	1010	0.65	—
导热套筒	2791	871	155	—
空气	1.225	1006.43	0.0242	1.789×10^-5
水	996.95	4178.5	0.6	9.02×10^-4

符号	参数值	单位	名称
H_SEI	2.57×10⁵	J/kg	SEI膜放热量
H_ne	1.55×10⁵	J/kg	负极与电解液反应放热量
H_pe	3.14×10⁵	J/kg	正极与电解液反应放热量
H_e	1.55×10⁵	J/kg	电解液分解放热量
W_SEI	6.104×10²	kg/m³	SEI膜材料密度
W_ne	6.104×10²	kg/m³	负极与电解液反应材料密度
W_pe	1.438×10³	kg/m³	正极与电解液反应材料密度
W_e	4.069×10²	kg/m³	电解液分解材料密度
a_SEI	1.667×10¹⁵	s^-1	SEI膜频率因子
a_ne	2.5×10¹³	s^-1	负极与电解液反应频率因子
a_pe	6.667×10¹³	s^-1	正极与电解液反应频率因子
a_e	5.14×10²⁵	s^-1	电解液分解频率因子
E_SEI	1.3508×10⁵	J/mol	SEI膜活化能
E_ne	1.3508×10⁵	J/mol	负极与电解液反应活化能
E_pe	1.396×10⁵	J/mol	正极与电解液反应活化能
E_e	2.74×10⁵	J/mol	电解液分解活化能
C_SEI,0	0.15		C_SEI的初始值
C_ne,0	0.75		C_ne的初始值
C_e,0	1		C_e的初始值
z₀	0.033		z的初始值
α₀	0.04		α的初始值

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