Prevent thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries with minichannel cooling

Thermal management on lithium-ion batteries is a crucial problem for the performance, lifetime, and safety of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Fire and explosions can be triggered by thermal runaway if the temperature of the lithium-ion batteries is not maintained properly. This work describes a minichannel cooling system designed at the battery module level and the investigation on its efficacy on the mitigation of thermal runaway. Nail penetration was employed to simulate the internal short circuits, which in reality may be caused by vehicle collisions and/or manufacturing defects. Two integrated models were utilized to study thermal runaway: the conjugate heat transfer model and the reaction kinetics model. Numerical simulations were conducted to understand the thermal runaway process and the effects of flow rate, thermal abuse reactions, nail penetration depth, and nail diameter. It is concluded that minichannel cooling at cell level cannot cease thermal runaway in a single cell, but it can prevent battery fratricide due to thermal runaway propagation between cells.