Simulation of the Thermal Behavior of a Prismatic LiFePO4 Battery Cell

Abstract

In this paper, we present theoretical and numerical modeling results for thermal analysis of Lithium ion (LiFePO4) battery cells during discharge (0.2C, 0.5C, 1C). Thermal management is important for many reasons, including thermal runaway, performance and maintains a constant temperature during the operating, security, lifecycle. However, in a battery pack, the batteries are stacked against each other without cooling surfaces except the outer surface of the package and the cell in the center of pack are exposed to overheating and thermal runaway. A modeling for a single LiFePO4 battery cell is presented together with preliminary experiments in ambient temperature (20=C~35=C) and the results for determination of heating sources during discharging. A favorable agreement between experiments and the model is found and it will be necessary for further work.