Thermal management modeling for cylindrical lithium-ion battery packs considering safety and lifespan

Different battery thermal management (BTM) for a 18650 cylindrical Li-ion battery pack were simulated based on the lumped model. Phase change material (PCM) was introduced for its benefits: high latent heat and uniform melting temperature. However, the heat absorbed into the PCM was not dissipated to the environment. Thus, an additional cooling mechanism was required to reach satisfying temperature limits (45 °C for lifespan and 50 °C for safety). These include natural convection cooling, forced convection cooling, finned-natural convection cooling, PCM cooling, and PCM cooling coupled with liquid cooling channels. The temperature of the battery pack using natural convection, finned-natural convection, and PCM cooling reached 62.1 °C, 55 °C, and 50 °C, which were equal or over (50 °C), while it decreased to 49 °C using forced convection, which was over (45 °C). However, PCM coupled with liquid cooling channels satisfied the requirements, and the temperature was reduced to 42 °C using this system.