Mitigation of thermal runaway in air cooled Li-ion batteries using a novel cell arrangement coupled with air flow improviser: A numerical investigation and optimization

Abstract

The concept of e-mobility is gaining the utmost importance owing to stringent emission norms. However, the safety issues associated with propulsion batteries are posing a major threat to their success. The occurrences of accidents caused due to thermal runaway in electric two-wheelers grabbed global attention. In this research work, an effort is being taken to address this concern, by arranging the battery cells in a pentagonal arrangement and employing forced air convection. The influence of air velocity (0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 m/s) and air inlet position (60, 75, and 90 mm) and intermediate cell distance (4, 6, and 8 mm) on the thermal performance of the battery is investigated using a numerical approach. Maximum cell temperature, pressure drop across the channel, maximum air velocity, maximum turbulent kinetic energy, and maximum turbulence intensity are considered output responses. A grey relational analysis (GRA) is used to identify the optimum level for all input parameters considering all output responses. The optimal forced convection parameters for the proposed pentagonal cell arrangement are the intermediate cell distance of 6 mm, air velocity of 0.45 m/s, and air inlet position of 90 mm from the center of the cell arrangement. With this arrangement, the peak cell temperature is reduced from 48.32 to 36.83 °C (8%). The study is extended with an airflow improviser to examine the influence of its geometrical parameters (improviser angle, fillet angle, and its distance from the center of the battery module) on the battery cell temperature. At the optimal conditions, the presence of an airflow improviser increases the air velocity from 1.76 to 2.302 m/s (19%) and turbulence intensity from 196 to 0.350 m2/s2 (33%). Thus, the cell temperature could be reduced to the extent of 8.6% by adopting the pentagonal cell arrangement with airflow improviser and optimal operating parameters.