Modeling transient thermal runaway propagation, anisotropic heat conduction across pouch layers, and dual-surface cold plate cooling architectures under aggressive fast-charge protocols.
1. Anisotropic Heat Dissipation in Pouch & Prismatic Cells
A lithium-ion battery cell is not a homogeneous block of thermal mass. Due to alternating micro-layers of copper current collectors, aluminum foils, separators, and active coatings, thermal conductivity is highly orthotropic.
Conductivity along the cell planar direction (k_xx, k_yy) typically reaches 28 to 32 W/m•K, whereas through-plane conductivity across electrode stacks (k_zz) is constrained to just 0.8 to 1.4 W/m•K. Simulations that treat cells as isotropic consistently fail to predict core hotspot temperatures by up to 18°C during 3C to 5C fast charging.
2. Dual-Surface Cold Plate Architecture & CHT Coupling
By constructing conjugate heat transfer (CHT) models coupling liquid 50/50 ethylene-glycol/water channel turbulence with internal cell thermal generation, CurlVee optimizes channel cross-sections to balance local Nusselt numbers against overall pumping pressure drop.
THERMAL RUNAWAY BARRIER CRITERIA
Our transient simulation framework incorporates phase change materials (PCM) and aerogel insulation barrier sizing to ensure that even under severe single-cell exothermic decomposition (> 650°C), adjacent cell surface temperatures remain strictly below the critical 80°C propagation threshold.