Electrochemical-Thermal Modeling of Li-Ion Battery Packs

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications are subject to aging with usage and environmental conditions, leading to the reduction of the performance, reliability and life span of the battery pack. To this extent, the ability of simulating the dynamic behavior of a battery pack using high-fidelity electrochemical and thermal models could provide very useful information for the design of Battery Management Systems (BMS). For instance such models could be used to predict the impact of cell-to-cell variations in the electrical and thermal properties on the overall performance of the pack, as well as on the propagation of degradation from one cell to another. This paper presents a method for fast simulation of an integrated electrochemical-thermal battery pack model based on first-principles. First, a coupled electrochemical and thermal model is developed for a single cell, based upon the data of a composite LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 – LiMn2O4 (LMO-NMC) Li-ion battery, and validated on experimental data. Then, the cell model is extended to a reconfigurable and parametric model of a complete battery pack. The proposed modeling approach is completely general and applicable to characterize any pack topology, varying electrical connections and thermal boundary conditions. Finally, simulation results are shown to illustrate the effects of parameter variability on the pack performance.