COmputational Simulation and Modelling for Immersive Cooling of Batteries (COSMIC Batteries)

在全球变暖和英国2050年净零排放政策的推动下，交通运输是一个需要大量脱碳的行业。该项目旨在帮助设计用于电动飞机和电动汽车的防热失控电池组。该电池组还有望在广泛的温度范围（-40℃至50℃）下安全运行。这是通过使用新颖的浸入式冷却系统和液气相变化材料实现的。安全是电池的首要任务，特别是在汽车和航空领域的安全关键应用。然而，最先进的电池技术并不能防止热失控，而且在极端气候下，它会减少续航里程或加速老化。在这个项目中，我们设计、建模和优化了新型浸入式冷却系统，以便在电池组中的一个或几个电池发生热失控时，热量可以迅速消散。因此，可以有效地阻止热失控及其传播。目前的项目目标是与最先进的电池相比，在安全性和性能方面都有显著改进的电动汽车，以期在技术成熟时将防热失控技术应用到飞机上。

Driven by global warming and net zero 2050 policy in the UK, the transportation is a sector that requires heavy decarbonization. The project aims to help design a thermal runaway proof battery pack for electric aircraft and electric automotives. This battery pack is also expected to be safe to operate at a wide range of temperature (-40oC to 50oC). This is enabled by the use of novel immersion cooling system with liquid-gas phasing changing materials. Safety is the first priority for batteries, especially the safety critical applications in automotive and aviation. However, the state-of-art battery technology is not thermal runaway proof, and it suffers from reduced range or accelerated ageing at extreme climate.In this project, we design, model and optimize the novel immersion cooling system so that heat can be quickly dissipated if thermal runaway happens to one or a few cells in the pack. Therefore, thermal runaway and its propagation can be effectively stopped. The current project targets electric automotives with significant improvements both in safety and performance compared to a state-of-the-art battery, with a view to bring the thermal runaway proof technology to the aircrafts as the technology is matured.