Parametric investigation of the impact of thermal insulation materials on thermal propagation in battery modules

In order to effectively suppress the risk of thermal propagation induced by battery overheating during the discharge process of lithium-ion batteries, this investigates the design of a battery thermal management system based on insulating materials to provide thermal insulation for the lithium-ion batteries during discharge. A numerical simulation approach is adopted to parametrically investigate the effects of different types of insulating materials, thicknesses, and arrangements on the insulation performance of the battery module. The results indicate that under various discharge conditions of the lithium-ion battery module, among the four insulating materials — aerogel, fiberglass, mica, and silicone rubber—aerogel exhibits the best thermal insulation performance, with a thermal flux density of only 472 W·m ‐2 , which is merely 6 % of that of silicone rubber. With the increase in aerogel thickness δ , the thermal flux density of the insulation plate gradually decreases. Among the five thicknesses of 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm, and 2.5 mm, the thermal flux density is at a minimum when the thickness is 2.5 mm, and even at this thickness, the highest thermal flux density recorded is only 321.9 W·m ‐2 , which provides the optimal suppression of thermal propagation. Among the three insulating panel arrangements, arrangement 234 has the lowest thermal flux density for the insulating boards located at the left and center positions. Considering all factors, the 234 arrangement is the optimal arrangement among the four types of three insulation panel arrangements. In the case of two insulating boards, the flow density of the left and right side insulation boards of the insulation panel arrangement 23 is the lowest, so the insulation panel arrangement 23 is the optimal arrangement among the four types of two insulation panel arrangements.