Prevention and suppression effects of phase change material on thermal runaway in batteries

Abstract

With the rapid improvement in the electric vehicle industry, lithium-ion batteries are being used in increasing numbers. However, lithium-ion batteries are prone to thermal runaway under various factors, leading to fires and explosions that seriously affect the security of electric vehicles. Therefore, a method for effectively preventing and suppressing thermal runaway in batteries is an important problem that needs to be solved. The phase change material can absorb a large quantity of heat during the solid‒liquid transition process, exhibiting strong potential for thermal runaway protection in lithium-ion batteries. In this research, a lithium-ion battery module is proposed with cylindrical cells and paraffin phase change material. The prevention and suppression effects of the phase change material on thermal runaway in the cells are analyzed by a numerical method. The phase change material can effectively reduce the maximum temperature of the trigger cell and stop the propagation of thermal runaway in the module. By varying the thermal conductivity, latent heat, melting temperature and thickness of the phase change material, their influences on the heat generation and temperature of the trigger cell during thermal runaway are analyzed. Design recommendations for phase change materials to protect lithium-ion batteries from thermal runaway are provided based on the results.

Keywords

• Lithium-ion battery
• Thermal runaway
• Phase change material
• Electric vehicle
• Numerical method