Thermal management

High temperatures pose a risk of thermal runaway and increased degradation, and low temperatures significantly reduce useful performance and pose a risk of irreversible degradation such as lithium plating in li-ion systems. A thermal management system must be capable of cooling and perhaps heating the pack effectively and efficiently. A key aspect is monitoring the temperature of cells. We are exploring amongst other areas novel methods of inferring cell temperatures indirectly using impedance measurements, with the prospect of improving the accuracy and safety. We are also interested in model order reduction and development and validation of compact thermal models in a variety of devices and applications, as well as novel calorimetry approaches.

People

Gosia Wojtala, David Howey

Academic collaborators

Prof Peter Ireland (Oxford)

Projects
  • “Translational Energy Storage Diagnostics (TRENDs)”, EPSRC project ref. EP/R020973/1.
  • “Thermal management of electric vehicle batteries”, EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership
  • “Calibrator for power measurement equipment”, N4L-sponsored project
Recent publications