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Sandwich Structure Design of a Cooling Fin for Battery Modules Against Impact Loads

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Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely employed in electric vehicles owing to their high power density, long cycle life, and environmental friendliness. However, LIBs are hazardous in the event of a crash, leading to thermal runaway. In this study, the basic structure of a battery module is analyzed to improve the crashworthiness of LIBs. A simplified finite element model of the battery module structure, which is a battery unit composed of two pouch cells and a cooling fin, is set up and verified by conducting module-level simulations. The simulation results reveal that the cooling fin in the battery module has the potential to absorb energy. Six sandwich configurations are introduced to modify the cooling fin. With a unidirectionally stiffened double hull USDH structure serving as an example, a parametric analysis is conducted, demonstrating that the sandwich height does not influence the areal density; a small height of 3 mm can make the material work sufficiently while avoiding early buckling of the structure. Further, the crashworthiness of different sandwich configurations with the same areal density and height is compared, leading to three deformation modes. USDH and circular core structures are found to be able to effectively reduce the peak force and improve the energy absorption ability.

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Abbreviations

BRAS:

Blast-resistant adaptive sandwich

LIB:

Lithium-ion batteries

USDH:

Unidirectionally stiffened double hull

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51675294 and U1564205), the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFE0102200), and the State Key Laboratory of Vehicle NVH and Safety Technology (Contract No. NVHSKL-201907).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Zitong Shi, Guanhua Chen, Lingxiao Zhu & Yong Xia

  2. State Key Laboratory of Vehicle NVH and Safety Technology, Chongqing, 401120, China

    Zitong Shi, Jie Li & Yong Xia

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  1. Zitong Shi
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  2. Guanhua Chen
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  3. Lingxiao Zhu
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  4. Jie Li
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  5. Yong Xia
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Correspondence to Yong Xia.

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On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Shi, Z., Chen, G., Zhu, L. et al. Sandwich Structure Design of a Cooling Fin for Battery Modules Against Impact Loads. Automot. Innov. 3, 260–269 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-020-00107-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-020-00107-z

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