Temperature Distribution on Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery Cell: Experiment and Modeling

The performance of the lithium-ion battery is highly dependent on the operating temperature. In order to keep the operating temperature within the optimal range, a thermal management system (TMS) is used to cool down or warm up the battery. Understanding the heat generation characteristics and temperature distribution of the lithium-ion batteries is essential to design an effective TMS. In this paper, the surface temperature distribution over a 20Ah lithium-ion polymer battery cell is measured under different charging and discharging conditions. A cell thermal model is then built using the ANSYS Fluent. The simulation results are correlated and validated well with the experimental data. The validated cell thermal model provides a design guideline to thermal management system in the level of battery module and pack.