A Fitting Method to Characterize the Gaseous Venting Behavior of Lithium–Ion Batteries in a Sealed Chamber during Thermal Runaway

Abstract

The venting event of thermal runaway has attracted public attention due to safety issues aroused by frequent fire accidents of new energy vehicles. However, the quantitative description of venting behavior is incomplete for tests in a sealed chamber due to the initial violent injection. In this study, nine types of batteries covering 28 cases in total were employed to investigate the influence of energy density, ambient temperature, pressure, and SOC on the venting behavior, characterized by normalized gas amount; maximum gas releasing rate; and venting durations t50, t90, t95, and t99. Then, a ‘two-point’ fitting method was proposed to modify outcomes concerning real-time gas amounts. The results show that at 100% SOC, the normalized gas amount ranges within 0.075–0.105 mol/Ah for NCM batteries and 0.025–0.035 mol/L for LFP batteries, while the maximum gas releasing rate presents a strongly positive correlation with the capacity of NCM batteries (0.04–0.31 mol/s) and a slight increase for LFP batteries (0.02–0.06 mol/s). Eventually, the three venting patterns were summarized and advanced according to the energy density and SOC of the targeted battery. This research can provide a reference for risk evaluations of the venting process and safety design for structure and pressure relief in battery systems.