Battery Pack Plenum Venting for Thermal Runaway Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tight packing of battery cells in battery packs increases energy density but poses challenges during abuse conditions, such as thermal runaway, where existing technologies struggle to manage the discharge of hazardous materials effectively, risking thermal contagion and ignition.
Innovation Solution
The battery pack design incorporates a plenum structure with cell block vents that include backflow prevention mechanisms to direct discharged matter away from neighboring cells, using a tortuous pathway and occluding members to prevent re-entry and facilitate cooling, thereby containing and dissipating thermal energy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If battery cells are tightly packed to increase energy density, then the energy density of the battery pack is improved, but the ability to manage discharge of hazardous materials during thermal runaway deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into multiple cell blocks, each equipped with its own venting system. This segmentation allows hazardous materials to be contained and vented at the cell block level rather than allowing uncontrolled propagation across the entire pack, thus maintaining high density while managing thermal runaway risks.
Solution Approach 2:
A plenum structure serves as an intermediary chamber that receives discharged matter from cell block vents. The plenum directs these materials through tortuous pathways toward the exterior, preventing direct contact between hazardous materials from different cell blocks and eliminating thermal contagion pathways while maintaining compact cell arrangement.
2Ease of operation
If cell blocks are fluidly coupled to plenum structure via vents, then thermal runaway discharge is facilitated, but the risk of discharged matter entering other cell blocks increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of allowing direct venting from cell blocks to the exterior, the system inverts the pathway by routing discharged matter through a plenum structure first. The plenum's tortuous pathways redirect materials away from other cell blocks and toward safe exterior discharge points, facilitating thermal runaway discharge while preventing thermal contagion.
Solution Approach 2:
The plenum structure converts the harmful direct discharge pathway into a beneficial tortuous pathway. By forcing discharged matter through curved routes with occluding members, the system uses the discharge event itself to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design in containing and redirecting hazardous materials away from vulnerable cell blocks.
3Reliability
If backflow prevention mechanisms are added to cell block vents, then thermal contagion is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The backflow prevention functionality is merged into the overall plenum structure design rather than being implemented as separate complex mechanisms at each vent. The tortuous pathways and occluding members are integrated features of the plenum that provide backflow prevention across all cell blocks simultaneously, maintaining reliability while controlling complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design effectively limits thermal runaway to individual cell blocks, prevents thermal contagion, and reduces the risk of ignition by ensuring discharged matter is directed externally, maintaining pack integrity and safety.
Implementation Method 1
configured to be fluidly coupled to the plenum structure via a cell block vent... in response to a thermal event in a battery cell
Data Source
AI summary
Battery packs are presented. The battery packs include a plurality of cell blocks, each cell block comprising a plurality of battery cells. The battery pack also includes a plenum chamber configured to fluidly couple each of the cell blocks to an exterior of the battery pack in response to a thermal event in the battery cell in a separate cell block. In some embodiments, at least one of the cell blocks is configured to be fluidly coupled to the plenum structure via a cell block vent.