No thermal runaway propagation optimization design of battery arrangement for cell-to-chassis technology

Innovative technology for electric vehicles has been developed in the past years, especially in the design of battery pack. Cell-to-pack (CTP) technology abandoned the conventional module structure and integrated the cell in the pack directly. The next generation Cell-to-chassis (CTC) technology will integrate the battery directly into the chassis fame. How to balance the integration considering both the safety and volume energy density is a challenging task. This paper uses the validated 3D model to investigate the conventional in-line configuration and new proposed brick configuration on thermal runaway propagation (TP) characterization. The in-line module occurs TP while the brick module doesn’t. The analysis of heat flux and heat energy flow among TR battery between adjacent normal batteries points out that the brick module has low peak heat flow and has more battery (heat capacity) to absorb heat, thus the brick can cease TP. In addition, the length of the brick module is optimized to improve the space utilization in CTC fame. Based on not adding thermal barriers, the volume energy density of brick configuration system decreases by less than 3% compare with in-line configuration system. This paper also proves that the structural design can improve the safety of battery system without adding cost. • Structural configuration can improve the safety of battery system is proposed and proved. • Brick module configuration for cell-to-chassis fame that can cease thermal runaway propagation is proposed. • Reducing the heat flux and heat energy between thermal runaway and normal batteries is the key for system safety design.