PTC Self-Heating Experiments and Thermal Modeling of Lithium-Ion Battery Pack in Electric Vehicles

Chengning Zhang, Xin Jin and Junqiu Li
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Chengning Zhang: National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Xin Jin: National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Junqiu Li: National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: This paper proposes a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) self-heating method, in which EVs can be operated independently of external power source at low temperature, with a lithium-ion battery (LIB) pack discharging electricity to provide PTC material with power. Three comparative heating experiments have been carried out respectively. With charge/discharge tests implemented, results demonstrate the superiority of the self-heating method, proving that the discharge capability, especially the discharge capacity of the self-heated pack is better than that of the external power heated pack. In order to evaluate the heating effect of this method, further studies are conducted on temperature distribution uniformity in the heated pack. Firstly, a geometric model is established, and heat-generation rate of PTC materials and LIB are calculated. Then, thermal characteristics of the self-heating experiment processes are numerically simulated, validating the accuracy of our modeling and confirming that temperature distributions inside the pack after heating are kept in good uniformity. Therefore, the PTC self-heating method is verified to have a significant effect on the improvement of performance of LIB at low temperature.

Keywords: lithium-ion battery; PTC self-heating method; self-heating experiment; thermal modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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