Computational Safety Design of Thermal Management System of Li-Ion Battery Modules

초록

Design of thermal management system of battery modules is critical to ensure safety against thermal runaway propagation (TRP). In this work, we investigate the role of key design factors of the thermal management systems on the propagation during thermal runaway using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Special attention is paid to how the arrangements of cold plate and thermal pad impact the propagation under various thermal conditions. Parametric studies of a 12-cell module under thermal abuse were conducted using PyFluent, simulating 300 cases following model validation. The study reveals that both the arrangement of cold plates and the thermal pads, as well as their thickness and volume, play important roles in mitigating TRP. For example, the results show that the double-sided cold plate arrangement is substantially more effective at preventing TRP than the single-sided cold plate arrangement of equivalent mass. Furthermore, insulating the interface adjacent to the trigger cell with thicker thermal pad is found to be beneficial. A series of safety maps are generated to provide comprehensive design guides to balance these factors. This highlights that robust safety of battery modules requires both efficient heat dissipation via cold plates and strategic heat-conduction delay via thermal pads.

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