Sealed Busbar with Phase-Change Liquid for Battery Thermal Runaway Mitigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional battery pack cooling solutions fail to effectively mitigate thermal runaway energy propagation, leading to potential thermal runaway in adjacent batteries, and are often bulky and heavy, compromising pack performance.
Innovation Solution
A busbar with an electrically conductive and sealed envelope containing a heat transfer liquid with a vaporization temperature between 90% and 110% of the thermal runaway temperature of the batteries, designed to absorb energy dissipated during thermal runaway, using a two-sheet metal assembly to facilitate heat exchange and reduce thermal conduction between batteries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling solutions are used to cool accumulator batteries, then the batteries can be cooled during normal operation, but the cooling system becomes bulky and heavy, compromising pack performance
Solution Approach 1:
The busbar is designed to serve dual functions: electrical connection and thermal management. The sealed envelope containing heat transfer liquid is integrated into the busbar structure itself, eliminating the need for separate cooling components. This merging of functions reduces overall system weight and bulk while maintaining effective cooling capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The busbar structure is transformed into a multi-functional component that simultaneously provides electrical conductivity, structural support, and active cooling. The sealed envelope with heat transfer liquid enables the busbar to perform thermal management functions in addition to its primary electrical connection role, reducing the need for dedicated cooling systems.
2Temperature
If conventional cooling solutions are used to cool accumulator batteries, then the batteries can be cooled during normal operation, but the system fails to effectively mitigate thermal runaway energy propagation to adjacent batteries
Solution Approach 1:
The heat transfer liquid is selected with specific vaporization temperature parameters (between 90% and 110% of the thermal runaway temperature) to optimize its ability to absorb thermal runaway energy. This parameter optimization enables the liquid to effectively mitigate thermal propagation while using minimal quantity, reducing system weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat transfer liquid utilizes phase change (vaporization) at temperatures close to the thermal runaway temperature to absorb large amounts of energy. This phase transition mechanism provides superior thermal runaway mitigation compared to conventional liquid cooling, as the latent heat of vaporization absorbs significant thermal energy without requiring large volumes of coolant.
3Reliability
If a sealed envelope containing heat transfer liquid is integrated into the busbar, then thermal runaway energy can be effectively absorbed, but the busbar structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The sealed envelope containing heat transfer liquid is nested within the busbar structure itself. This nesting approach integrates the thermal management function into the existing busbar geometry without requiring external cooling components, thereby limiting the increase in structural complexity while achieving effective thermal runaway mitigation.
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 solution effectively absorbs thermal runaway energy, preventing adjacent batteries from entering thermal runaway, while maintaining pack performance and reducing weight and bulk through enhanced heat exchange and phase change energy absorption.
Implementation Method 1
a heat transfer liquid whose vaporization temperature is chosen so as to be between a value close to 90% of the self-heating temperature (T1) and a value close to 110% of the thermal runaway temperature (T2) of the accumulator batteries of the pack
Implementation Method 2
the heat transfer liquid whose vaporization temperature is chosen so as to be between a value close to 90% of the self-heating temperature (T1) and a value close to 110% of the thermal runaway temperature (T2)
Implementation Method 3
designed to absorb energy dissipated during thermal runaway, using a two-sheet metal assembly to facilitate heat exchange
Data Source
AI summary
A busbar for a battery pack, intended to electrically connect at least one electrochemical accumulator battery of the pack, preferably to electrically connect several electrochemical accumulator batteries of the pack to one another, including an electrically conductive and sealtight envelope itself intended to channel the current of the accumulator batteries and designed to contain a heat transfer liquid whose vaporization temperature is chosen so as to be between a value close to 90% of the self-heating temperature and a value close to 110% of the thermal runaway temperature of the accumulator batteries of the pack, the sealtight envelope being designed to guarantee an injection of heat transfer liquid as close as possible to each accumulator battery to which it is intended to be connected, preferably close to at least one of its output terminals.