Thermal Management for Battery Module with Liquid-Cooled Shell Structure under High Charge/Discharge Rates and Thermal Runaway Conditions

In this paper, the thermal management of a battery module with a novel liquid-cooled shell structure is investigated under high charge/discharge rates and thermal runaway conditions. The module consists of 4 × 5 cylindrical batteries embedded in a liquid-cooled aluminum shell with multiple flow channels. The battery module thermal management and the suppression of thermal propagation were experimentally examined. The temperature rise of the battery in the discharging process is significantly greater than that in the charging phase. As the coolant flow speed increases, the maximum temperature of the battery module decreases slightly, while the temperature difference remains at the same level, at the expense of a much-increased pressure drop. With the presented liquid-cooled shell, the suppression of thermal propagation was investigated for both internal and corner battery thermal runaway. It is found that the temperature of the adjacent battery can be maintained at under 70 °C, indicating that the propagation of thermal runaway can be successfully suppressed by heat dissipation through the surrounding liquid flow. In addition, the electrically induced thermal profile along the battery interconnection was identified through thermal imaging. Hot spots were found on the confluence busbars of the batteries in series connection. In order to improve the safety of battery modules, a parallel battery connection in the battery module is recommended, which can reduce the busbar temperature by 4.86 °C, as determined through numerical simulations. Experimental measurements were also conducted to verify the simulation results.