Avoiding thermal runaway propagation of lithium-ion battery modules by using hybrid phase change material and liquid cooling

In order to maintain the proper operating temperature and avoid thermal runaway propagation of lithium-ion power battery module, this paper proposes a novel hybrid battery thermal management system based on phase change material (PCM) and liquid cooling. In the proposed system, the operating temperature of the battery is maintained mainly by latent heat of PCM. In the case of thermal runaway condition, PCM acts as a heat buffer, and the heat dissipates through the liquid cooling system to avoid the thermal runaway propagation. The heat transfer model and the thermal runaway model are established and then verified. The performance of system is numerically analyzed under extreme operating and thermal abuse conditions. The results show that the proposed system combines the advantages of PCM and liquid thermal management schemes, which can fully meet the heat dissipation demand under extreme operating conditions. The high thermal conductivity of PCM is beneficial to the reduction of battery temperature but may cause thermal runaway propagation. The proposed system also have good heat dissipation capacity in avoiding the thermal runaway by optimizing some parameters, such as thethermal conductivity of PCM and water velocity.