Unbalanced discharging and aging due to temperature differences among the cells in a lithium-ion battery pack with parallel combination

• A thermal–electrochemical model is developed for the parallel-connected cells.
• Temperature differences among the cells cause unbalanced discharging and aging.
• A greater temperature difference results in a larger capacity loss of the pack.

This paper presents an investigation on the unbalanced discharging and aging due to temperature difference between the parallel-connected cells. A thermal–electrochemical model is developed for the parallel-connected battery pack. The effects of temperature difference on the unbalanced discharging performances are studied by simulations and experiments. For the parallel-connected cells, the cell at higher temperature experiences a larger current in the early discharging process before approximately 75% of depth of discharge (DOD). When the discharge process approaches the voltage turn point of the battery pack, the discharge current through the cell at higher temperature begins to decrease significantly. After the DOD reaches approximately 90%, the discharge current of the cell at higher temperature rises again. Correspondingly, the changes in the discharging current through the cell at lower temperature are opposite to that of the cell at higher temperature. Simulations also show that the temperature difference between the parallel-connected cells greatly aggravates the imbalance discharge phenomenon between the cells, which accelerates the losses of the battery pack capacity. For the parallel-connected battery pack, the capacity loss rate approximately increases linearly as the temperature difference between the cells increases. This trend is magnified with the increase of operating temperature.