Thermal Distribution in a Pack
of Cylindrical Batteries
COMSOL
Introduction
This example demonstrates how to model the temperature distribution in a
battery pack during a 4C discharge
The pack is constructed by first coupling two cylindrical batteries in parallel
Six parallel-connected pairs are then connected in series to create the full
pack — a configuration also called 6s2p
This configuration for the lithium ion battery pack is quite common in portable
devices like skateboards, toys, drones, and medical equipment
The symmetry of the problem is used twice so that only the temperature
distribution for three batteries needs to be solved for
Model Definition
The figure shows the model
geometry
Three 21,700 battery cylinders
(21 mm in diameter, 70 mm
high) are placed adjacent to
each other
Small connecting strips of
aluminum are located at the top
and bottom of the cylinders
according to the 6s2p
configuration
The whole pack is assumed to
be wrapped in plastic, forming a Geometry 1
domain filled with air
Model Definition
Assuming a nominal capacity of
4 Ah for each cell and nominal
voltage of 3.7 V, the battery
pack has a total nominal
capacity of approximately
178 Wh
Geometry 1
Model Definition
Battery Pack
Model Definition
Heat Transfer in Fluids
Results
The figure shows the
temperature distribution in
the pack at the end of the
simulation, where the
solution data has been
mirrored twice to illustrate
the temperature of the full
6s2p pack
The innermost parts of the
pack experience a
temperature about 2ºC
higher than the outermost
Temperature plot at t= 0.2 h
parts
Results
The figure shows a plot of the
individual cell voltages during
the discharge
The outermost cell (Cell 1)
exhibits a slightly lower
discharge voltage, a result of
the ohmic drop and
exchange current being
slightly lower, and the
diffusion time constant
slightly higher, for the lower
temperature, but the effect is Cell voltages versus time
small
Results
The corresponding
temperatures are shown in the
graph as in the previous graph
