Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal runaway propagation characteristics of lithium-ion batteries with a non-uniform state of charge distribution

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alleviating and restraining thermal runaway (TR) of lithium-ion batteries is a critical issue in developing new energy vehicles. The battery state of charge (SoC) influence on TR is significant. This paper performs comprehensive modeling and analysis with the non-uniform distribution of SoCs at the module level. First, a numerical model is established and validated with experimental data to calculate the TR of the cells with different SoCs. Then, the influence of uniform and non-uniform SoC distribution on TR propagation is studied. The results show that the battery temperature, TR propagation time, and range are significantly affected by the total SoC of the battery module. When the total SoC is reduced below 30%, the energy released by the battery is significantly reduced, which is not enough to trigger the TR of all battery cells, and the TR propagation can be interrupted. Furthermore, the analysis of TR propagation in a battery model with non-uniform SoC distribution indicates that the propagation can be mitigated by reducing the SoC of two adjacent batteries on the spreading path. When the total SoC of adjacent cells is less than 55%, the TR propagation will be successfully inhibited.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

A :

Frequency factor, s−1

C b :

Specific heat capacity of battery, J⋅kg−1⋅K−1

C sei :

Specific heat capacity of SEI, J⋅kg−1⋅K−1

C air :

Specific heat capacity of air, J⋅kg−1⋅K−1

E a :

Reaction activation energy, J⋅mol−1

ΔH :

Enthalpy difference, W

H i :

Heat release amount of reactant, J⋅kg−1

M :

Mass of each side reaction substance, kg

R i :

Reaction rates of each side reaction

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination

ΔT :

Temperature difference, °C

T max :

Maximum temperature, °C

T tr :

Thermal runaway temperature, °C

T onset :

Onset temperature, °C

T b :

Battery surface temperature, °C

T ∞ :

Environment temperature, °C

T air :

Temperature of air, °C

W i :

Content of reactant, kg⋅m−3

a :

Degree of conversion

h :

Convective coefficient, W⋅m−2⋅K−1

k air :

Thermal conductivity of air, W⋅m−1⋅K−1

q gen :

The heat generation, W⋅m−3

ρ :

Density, kg⋅m−3

λ :

Thermal conductivity coefficient of the battery

ε :

Surface emissivity

δ :

Boltzmann constant, W⋅m−2⋅K−4

∇:

Hamiltonian

BMS:

Battery management system

SoC:

State of charge

TR:

Thermal runaway

SEI :

Solid electrolyte interface

NE :

Negative-electrolyte reaction

PE :

Positive-electrolyte reaction

E :

Electrolyte reaction

References

  1. Kim J, Oh J, Lee H (2019) Review on battery thermal management system for electric vehicles. Appl Therm Eng 149:192–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Maleki H, Howard JN (2006) Effects of overdischarge on performance and thermal stability of a Li-ion cell. J Power Sources 160(2):1395–1402

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lai X, Zheng Y, Zhou L, Gao W (2018) Electrical behavior of overdischarge-induced internal short circuit in lithium-ion cells. Electrochim Acta 278:245–254

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mao B, Chen H, Cui Z, Wu T, Wang Q (2018) Failure mechanism of the lithium ion battery during nail penetration. Int J Heat Mass Transf 122:1103–1115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang J, Mei W, Cui Z, Shen W, Duan Q, Jin Y, Nie J, Tian Y, Wang Q, Sun J (2020) Experimental and numerical study on penetration-induced internal short-circuit of lithium-ion cell. Appl Therm Eng 171

  6. Zhou H, Dai C, Liu Y, Fu X, Du Y (2020) Experimental investigation of battery thermal management and safety with heat pipe and immersion phase change liquid. J Power Sources 473

  7. Weng J, Ouyang D, Yang X, Chen M, Zhang G, Wang J (2019) Alleviation of thermal runaway propagation in thermal management modules using aerogel felt coupled with flame-retarded phase change material. Energy Convers Manage 200

  8. Schiemann M, Bergthorson J, Fischer P, Scherer V, Taroata D, Schmid G (2016) A review on lithium combustion. Appl Energy 162:948–965

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Shen H, Zhang Y, Wu Y (2020) A comparative study on air transport safety of lithium-ion batteries with different SOCs. Appl Therm Eng 179

  10. Lamb J, Orendorff CJ, Steele LAM, Spangler SW (2015) Failure propagation in multi-cell lithium ion batteries. J Power Sources 283:517–523

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Huang Z, Zhao C, Li H, Peng W, Zhang Z, Wang Q (2020) Experimental study on thermal runaway and its propagation in the large format lithium ion battery module with two electrical connection modes. Energy 205

  12. Meng X, Yang K, Zhang M, Gao F, Liu Y, Duan Q, Wang Q (2020) Experimental study on combustion behavior and fire extinguishing of lithium iron phosphate battery. J Energy Storage 30

  13. Huang P, Yao C, Mao B, Wang Q, Sun J, Bai Z (2020) The critical characteristics and transition process of lithium-ion battery thermal runaway. Energy 213

  14. Liu J, Wang Z, Gong J, Liu K, Wang H, Guo L (2017) Experimental study of thermal runaway process of 18650 lithium-ion battery. Materials (Basel) 10(3)

  15. Yang Y, Wang Z, Guo P, Chen S, Bian H, Tong X, Ni L (2021) Carbon oxides emissions from lithium-ion batteries under thermal runaway from measurements and predictive model. J Energy Storage 33

  16. Feng X, He X, Ouyang M, Lu L, Wu P, Kulp C, Prasser S (2015) Thermal runaway propagation model for designing a safer battery pack with 25 Ah LiNi Co Mn O2 large format lithium ion battery. Appl Energy 154:74–91

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Li H, Duan Q, Zhao C, Huang Z, Wang Q (2019) Experimental investigation on the thermal runaway and its propagation in the large format battery module with Li(Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)O2 as cathode. J Hazard Mater 375:241–254

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ouyang D, Weng J, Hu J, Chen M, Huang Q, Wang J (2019) Experimental investigation of thermal failure propagation in typical lithium-ion battery modules. Thermochim Acta 676:205–213

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Kim G-H, Pesaran A, Spotnitz R (2007) A three-dimensional thermal abuse model for lithium-ion cells. J Power Sources 170(2):476–489

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Hatchard TD, MacNeil DD, Basu A, Dahn JR (2001) Thermal model of cylindrical and prismatic lithium-ion cells. J Electrochem Soc 148(7)

  21. Kshetrimayum KS, Yoon Y-G, Gye H-R, Lee C-J (2019) Preventing heat propagation and thermal runaway in electric vehicle battery modules using integrated PCM and micro-channel plate cooling system. Appl Therm Eng 159

  22. Xu J, Lan C, Qiao Y, Ma Y (2017) Prevent thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries with minichannel cooling. Appl Therm Eng 110:883–890

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. He T, Zhang T, Gadkari S, Wang Z, Mao N, Cai Q (2023) An investigation on thermal runaway behaviour of a cylindrical lithium-ion battery under different states of charge based on thermal tests and a three-dimensional thermal runaway model. J Clean Prod 388

  24. Tahir MW, Merten C (2022) Multi-scale thermal modeling, experimental validation, and thermal characterization of a high-power lithium-ion cell for automobile application. Energy Convers Manage 258:115490

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors received funding support from the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (nos. 2020A1515110080, 2020B1515120006, 2022A1515011849).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Foshan University, Foshan, 528200, China

    Tian Ying, Wu Jiafeng, Chai Mu & Huang Liansheng

  2. China Electronic Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Research Institute, Guangzhou, 510507, China

    She Yang

Authors
  1. Tian Ying
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. She Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wu Jiafeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chai Mu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Huang Liansheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tian Ying.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ying, T., Yang, S., Jiafeng, W. et al. Thermal runaway propagation characteristics of lithium-ion batteries with a non-uniform state of charge distribution. J Solid State Electrochem 27, 2185–2197 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05496-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05496-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation