The Impact of a Combined Battery Thermal Management and Safety System Utilizing Polymer Mini-Channel Cold Plates on the Thermal Runaway and Its Propagation

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in mobile applications because they offer a suitable package of characteristics in terms of specific energy, cost, and life span. Nevertheless, they have the potential to experience thermal runaway (TR), the prevention and containment of which require safety measures and intensive thermal management. This study introduces a novel combined thermal management and safety application designed for large aspect-ratio battery cells such as pouches and thin prismatics. It comprises polymer-based mini-channel cold plates that can indirectly thermally condition the batteries’ faces with liquid. They are lightweight and space-saving, making them suitable for mobile systems. Furthermore, this study experimentally clarifies to which extent the application of polymer mini-channel cold plates between battery cells is suitable to delay TR by heat dissipation and to prevent thermal runaway propagation (TRP) to adjacent cells by simultaneously acting as a thermal barrier. NMC pouch cells of 12.5 Ah capacity were overcharged at 1 C to induce TR. Without cold plates, TR and TRP occurred within one hour. Utilizing the polymer mini-channel cold plates for face cooling, the overcharge did not produce a condition leading to cell fire in the same time frame. When the fluid inlet temperature was varied between 5 and 40 °C, the overcharged cell’s surface temperature peaked between 50 and 60 °C. Indications were found that thermal conditioning with the polymer cold plates significantly slowed down parts of the process chain before cell firing. Their peak performance was measured to be just under 2.2 kW/m2. In addition, thermal management system malfunction was tested, and evidence was found that the polymer cold plates prevented TRP to adjacent cells. In conclusion, a combined thermal management and safety system made of polymer mini-channel cold plates provides necessary TR-related safety aspects in lithium battery systems and should be further investigated.