An online evaluation model for mechanical/thermal states in prismatic lithium-ion batteries under fast charging/discharging

Abstract

Conventional online evaluation methods for the mechanical/thermal behaviour of lithium-ion batteries fall short in terms of efficiency and accuracy, especially under extreme conditions coupling high-temperature and fast charging/discharging. This paper proposes an electrochemical/thermal/mechanical analytical model for prismatic lithium-ion batteries to assess their temperature, stress, deformation, and gas evolution. An electrochemical submodel is formulated, covering the lithium intercalation/deintercalation, solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) decomposition/regeneration, and electrolyte decomposition. A thermal submodel is created to simulate heat transfer between the cell and its environment, considering reaction and Joule heating as heat sources. A mechanical submodel is developed to reveal the effects of nonlinear elastic constitutive properties and the mechanical/thermal/electrical states on cell deformation and stress, incorporating the reaction gas evolution. A coupled multidisciplinary analytical model is formed, using the state variables of temperature, stress, and deformation to link the submodels. The model's performance was validated against numerical and experimental results under high-temperature charge/discharge cycle conditions, demonstrating efficiency at the level of seconds, temperature errors below 0.6 %, and pressure errors below 4.6 %. The advantages in efficiency, accuracy, and applicability highlight its excellent prospects in energy storage and electric vehicle applications.