THERMAL-ELECTROCHEMICAL COUPLED MODELING OF

A multi-dimensional thermal and electrochemical coupled model is developed for Li-ion batteries. The model is capable of predicting the cell internal temperature distribution as well as the average cell temperature evolution. Numerical simulations are performed for a large-size Li-ion cell for electric vehicle applications. Comparisons between the coupled and decoupled model predictions indicate the importance of thermal-electrochemical coupling for accurate prediction of the thermal and electrochemical behaviors of Li-ion batteries. Numerical results show that large temperature gradients develop along the cell height, causing severe non-uniformity in both electrode reaction rate and electrolyte concentration distributions. Evolutions of cell potential and temperature are found to be greatly affected by the thermal environment and the cell aspect ratio