Design of Cylindrical Thermal Dummy Cell for Development of Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Management System

Abstract

This paper aims to design thermal dummy cells (TDCs) that can be used in the development of lithium-ion battery thermal management systems. Based on physical property and geometry of real 18,650 cylindrical cells, a three-dimensional model of TDCs was designed, and it is used to numerically simulate the thermal performance of TDCs. Simulations show that the TDC can mimic the temperature change on the surface of a real cell both at static and dynamic current load. Experimental results show that the rate of heating resistance of TDC is less than 0.43% for temperatures between 27.5 °C and 90.5 °C. Powered by a two-step voltage source of 12 V, the temperature difference of TDCs is 1 °C and 1.6 °C along the circumference and the axial directions, respectively. Powered by a constant voltage source of 6 V, the temperature rising rates on the surface and in the core are higher than 1.9 °C/min. Afterwards, the proposed TDC was used to simulate a real cell for investigating its thermal performance under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), and the same tests were conducted using real cells. The test indicates that the TDC surface temperature matches well with that of the real battery during the NEDC test, while the temperature rise of TDC exceeds that of the real battery during the suburban cycle. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using TDCs to replace real cells, which can greatly improve safety and efficiency for the development of lithium-ion battery thermal management systems.