Embedded Cooling Capsule for EV Battery Thermal Runaway
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electric vehicle battery packs face challenges in mitigating thermal runaway events, where heat from an overheated cell can propagate and damage the entire battery pack, reducing longevity and potentially causing destruction.
Innovation Solution
An emergency fire extinguishing capsule embedded within the battery pack that ruptures to release a cooling agent, such as liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide, to rapidly decrease pressure and temperature, providing cooling to adjacent cells and preventing further heat propagation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If various temperature regulation systems are developed to regulate battery pack temperature, then the ability to mitigate thermal event propagation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into multiple modules, and each module contains its own emergency cooling capsule positioned adjacent to battery cells. This segmentation allows localized cooling response without requiring a complex system-wide cooling infrastructure, resolving the contradiction by providing reliable thermal mitigation through distributed, simple units rather than a centralized complex system
Solution Approach 2:
The emergency cooling capsule acts as an intermediary substance between the thermal runaway event and the battery cells. The capsule contains cooling agents (such as liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide) that are released to absorb heat and inhibit thermal propagation, providing a simple yet effective mediation mechanism that improves reliability without adding complex active control systems
2Reliability
If a cooling system is added to prevent thermal runaway propagation, then battery pack safety is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The emergency cooling capsules are pre-filled with cooling agents during battery pack manufacturing and positioned adjacent to battery cells before final assembly. This preliminary action ensures that safety functionality is built-in during manufacturing rather than requiring costly post-assembly installation of complex active cooling systems, thereby improving safety while controlling manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 2:
The emergency cooling capsules are designed as simple, disposable safety devices that contain inexpensive cooling agents. Once activated during thermal runaway, the capsules rupture and release their contents, providing effective cooling without requiring expensive, reusable, or actively controlled components. This approach improves battery pack safety while maintaining ease of manufacture through the use of simple, low-cost safety devices
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
The system effectively inhibits the chemical reaction causing thermal runaway, significantly slowing the heat propagation and preventing damage to the battery pack, thereby extending its longevity and safety.
Implementation Method 1
the capsule can be a pressure cylinder configured to contain an inert substance stored at room temperature (e.g., liquid nitrogen, compressed carbon dioxide, or the like), which when ruptured causes a rapid decrease in pressure and accompanying temperature of the inert substance, thereby providing cooling to the battery cells positioned in close proximity thereto
Implementation Method 2
heat from the thermal event can cause the capsule to rupture, thereby causing a chemical within the capsule to experience either a rapid decrease in pressure/temperature or endothermic reaction to provide rapid cooling to the battery pack
Data Source
AI summary
An emergency rapid cooling system configured to provide rapid cooling to an electric vehicle battery pack during a thermal event. The emergency rapid cooling system including at least one capsule filled with a fluid, the at least one capsule including at least one nozzle positioned in proximity to at least one battery cell, wherein the at least one nozzle is configured to open upon reaching at least one of a determined temperature or pressure, thereby enabling the fluid within the at least one capsule to rapidly decrease in pressure and accompanying temperature to provide cooling to the at least one battery cell.