HEAT-TRANSFER PHENOMENA IN LITHIUM POLYMER-ELECTROLYTE BATTERIES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE APPLICATION

Mathematical modeling of heat generation and transport in lithium/polymer-electrolyte batteries for electric vehicle applications has been conducted. The results demonstrate that thermal management may not be a serious problem for batteries under low discharge rates. However, under high discharge rates, the temperature of a battery may increase remarkably if the thickness of a cell stack exceeds a certain value. Also, due to the low thermal conductivity of the polymer, the improvement of cooling conditions is not an effective means of improving heat removal for large-stack systems. For a required operational temperature range and a given discharge rate, model predictions can be used to design appropriate battery structures and to choose a suitable cooling scheme.