The suppression of thermal propagation using spray cooling with R410A in overheated lithium battery pack

Abstract

Currently, the thermal safety control of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles has emerged as a prominent research focus in both academia and industry. During the transition from overheating to the initial stage of thermal runaway, lithium batteries undergo an overheating decomposition reaction, which presents an opportunity for proactive prevention of thermal runaway. In this context, this study proposes a spray cooling method and performs numerical simulations to investigate the impact of spray cooling on suppressing overheating propagation in battery packs. Specifically, we examine the suppressor effect of spray cooling on propagating overheating within the battery pack. The cooling effect of R410A spray was investigated at three typical positions prone to overheating. We analyzed changes in thermal behavior characteristics of individual batteries within the pack and evaluated its inhibitory effect on propagating of overheating. The spray strategy is also improved and optimized by increasing the number of spray nozzles and spraying in advance. The results demonstrate that the implementation of the spray cooling method in this study effectively mitigates the average temperature of the overheated battery, thereby preventing the overheating decomposition reaction. Simultaneously, the spray cooling effectively suppresses the heat propagation of excessively heated batteries within the battery pack, thereby preventing and delaying the onset of thermal runaway in the battery pack.