Special Issue on Heat Transfer and Thermal Management in Li-Ion Cells and Battery Packs

Abstract

Thermal transport plays a critical role in ensuring performance and safety of electrochemical energy storage devices such as Li-ion cells. This is a multiscale challenge, ranging from the micro/nanoscale all the way to large, integrated energy storage systems. Specifically, thermal runaway at high temperature is a critical technological concern that currently throttles performance and prevents the use of Li-ion cells for several applications. An understanding of fundamental heat transfer processes that occur in a Li-ion cell as well as the development of creative thermal management approaches are both critically needed for progress in this direction. For example, it is important to understand how heat is generated in a single Li-ion cell, how the heat conducts within the cell, and finally, how the heat is dissipated into the ambient environment. Several additional, interesting challenges also arise in the context of thermal management of a battery pack containing a large number of cells. Since heat generation in a cell is intimately coupled with electrochemical processes, an understanding of thermo-electrochemistry is important. Further, thermal management design needs to account for other system-level considerations such as weight.