Experimental study of mitigation systems to prevent Thermal Runaway of Li-ion Batteries

Li-ion batteries have experienced a widespread deployment due to the strong interest in electrochemical devices capable of storing a large amount of energy in small volumes and supplying high powers when required. However, besides those advantages, this technology still presents several unsolved issues, especially regarding the safety aspects. These devices can, in fact, experience thermal runaway if the generated thermal power is not adequately dispersed, and this can occur when the cell / battery is subjected to abuse conditions (mechanical, electrical or thermal abuses). The experimental study was carried out using a full-scale hardware simulator, capable of simulating the thermal behavior of a battery pack, where electrically heated elements replaced real Li-ion cells. This expedient guarantees a high reproducibility of the working conditions and consequently a higher reliability of the measured data. The hardware simulator allows to reproduce the thermal behavior under normal operating conditions, and under abuse conditions which can lead to thermal runaway. The present work reports the results of the tests that have been carried out by reproducing the abuse conditions in one cell inside a battery module; the abused cell is heated with a high power (from 100 to 500 W for cells with a maximum heat loss of 30 W under normal operating conditions) and the efficiency of different cooling systems is checked both in limiting the temperature of the abused cell and in preventing the propagation of heat to the adjacent cells. In particular, different fluids, different fluid speeds and different mitigation methods have been tested.