The Polarization and Heat Generation Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Battery with Electric–Thermal Coupled Modeling

Abstract

This paper investigates the polarization and heat generation characteristics of batteries under different ambient temperatures and discharge rates by means of using a coupled electric–thermal model. This study found that the largest percentage of polarization is ohmic polarization, followed by concentration polarization and electrochemical polarization. The values of the three types of polarization are generally small and stable under normal-temperature environments and low discharge rates. However, they increase significantly in low-temperature environments and at high discharge rates and continue to rise during the discharge process. Additionally, ohmic heat generation and polarization generation also increase significantly under these conditions. Reversible entropy heat is less sensitive to ambient temperature but increases significantly with the increase in the discharge rate. Ohmic heat generation and polarization heat generation contribute to the total heat generation of the battery at any ambient temperature, while reversible entropy heat only contributes to the total heat generation of the battery at the end of discharge.

Keywords

• electric–thermal model
• polarization
• heat generation
• lithium-ion battery