Li-ion NCA Battery Safety Assessment for Electric Vehicle Applications

Abstract

In recent years, battery usage is not limited to power small electronic devices, but it has extended its usage as the power source of the electric-based vehicle. An understanding of the battery cell failure characteristic is paramount due to the high risk of thermal runaway that could be initiated from a damaged cell. The risk of damage on the battery cell due to crash impact loading typically leads to a dendritic process on the liquid portion of the battery which in turn initiated an electrical short in the electric vehicle. This paper focuses on the study of the safety assessment of Lithium-ion NCA (Nickel-Cobalt-Alumina) battery subjected to crash impact loading. The characteristic of the force-displacement response of the battery cell evaluated with axial, bending, and lateral impact loadings are presented with respect to quasi-static and dynamic loading scheme. The crash impact loading scenarios described above are critical in assessing the electrical integrity of electric vehicle with Lithium-ion-based battery. The battery model is validated using the available experimental data, and the results are compared very well to the case of quasi-static loading condition. For the dynamic loading scheme, the loading velocity was varied at 5 m/s, 10m/s, 15 m/s, and 30 m/s to observe the strain-rate effect to the force-displacement response of the battery cell. The dynamic loading scheme simulation shows that, in general, the increase of the crash impact loading velocity corresponds to the increase of the peak force and the displacement of the Li-ion battery. Overall these simulation tools are very useful for assessing the electrical integrity of the Li-ion battery for electric vehicle subjected to crash impact loading.