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The Influence of Airflow Rate on the Thermal Runaway Propagation Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Batteries in a Low-Pressure Environment

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Abstract

The effects of airflow rate on the thermal runaway (TR) propagation characteristics of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with different arrangements in 30 kPa low-pressure environment are studied. The results show that the increase of airflow rate leads to a more vigorous TR reaction, a higher TR peak temperature. The TR onset time shows a trend of shortening at first and then delaying with the increase of airflow rate. In addition, the increase in the number of batteries leads to an increase in the TR time of a single battery. The main reason for the above phenomena is that the high oxygen content caused by high airflow rate promotes the combustion of LIBs. Meanwhile, the higher airflow rates also lead to an increase in convective heat transfer, and the increase in the number of batteries changes the thermal conductivity, which aggravates the heat loss and delays the TR time of LIBs.

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Acknowledgements

The work was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC0809500), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2021YFSY0001, 2022YFG0236), Project of Civil Aviation Flight University of China (No. J2021-098) and Civil Aircraft Fire Science and Safety Engineering Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province (No. MZ2022JB02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Aircraft Fire Science and Safety Engineering Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, 618307, Sichuan, China

    Jian Sun, Guishu Li, Song Xie & Yuanhua He

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  1. Jian Sun
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  2. Guishu Li
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  3. Song Xie
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  4. Yuanhua He
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Correspondence to Song Xie or Yuanhua He.

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Sun, J., Li, G., Xie, S. et al. The Influence of Airflow Rate on the Thermal Runaway Propagation Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Batteries in a Low-Pressure Environment. Fire Technol 58, 3553–3576 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-022-01321-3

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