Diagnostics of Safety Hazardous Ageing Conditions for Commercial Lithium-Ion Pouch Cells
Authors: Vie Preben J. S. , Lian Torleif , Wind Julia , Ostrander John , Spitthoff Lena , Burheim Odne Stokke 
Published: February 2024

It is well-known that Lithium-ion cells can have safety issues. A large number of battery fire incidents have been reported the last years within e.g. battery energy storage systems [1], electric and hybrid-electric ships [2], electric vehicles and mobile phones [3]. The causes for these incidents are numerous and can include internal shortage of the Li-ion cell, external shortage of the battery system, over-heating or over-charging. All these causes result in overheating which can lead to an eventual thermal runaway which again could lead to a severe fire and explosion. We report on changes in thermal stability due to different ageing mechanisms in abstract Lian (#176439) and in Lian [4]. A decrease in thermal stability due to battery ageing could be hazardous and might be an end-of-life criteria. It is thus of vital importance to develop diagnostic tools capable of detecting a potentially hazardous drop in thermal stability for aged lithium-ion cells.

This study is based on results from a battery life study performed on a large renowned Li-ion pouch cell with an initial capacity of 64 Ah. More than 100 cells were tested following a selected test matrix including different temperatures, currents, and State-of-Charge windows. All cells were tested until they reached a remaining capacity of between 60 to 80 % State-of-Health. A large dataset with diagnostic data was recorded during ageing, including e.g., dQ/dV (incremental capacity analysis) and DC resistances. Thermal properties of selected new and aged cells were studied in an Accelerated Rate Calorimeter (ARC), see Lian (abstract #176439). A post-mortem study of selected new and aged cells was performed to relate the collected diagnostics data to different ageing paths and safety properties. Based on detailed cell characterization, an experimental parameter set for an electrochemical pseudo-two-dimensional (P2D) model was established.

Based on the dQ/dV (ICA) analysis, a distinct change in diagnostic patterns was observed for cells aged and cycled at low temperature (5-15 °C) compared to cells cycled at higher temperatures (35 -45 °C). This correlates to the observed differences in thermal stability reported by Lian (abstract #176439). To verify the observed ageing mechanisms from the post-mortem studies, emulated ageing modelling was performed both based on the Alawa tool [5], as well as the P2D model coupled with different ageing mechanisms.

References

McKinnon, M.B., S. DeCrance, and S. Kerber, Four Firefigheters Injured In Lithium-Ion Battery Energy Storage System Explosion - Arizona, U. Laboratories, Editor. 2020, Underwriters Laboratories: Columbia, MD. p. 66.

Norwegian Maritime Authority, Supporting preliminary findings after battery incident. 2019: Norwegian Maritime Authority.

BBC, Samsung confirms battery faults as cause of Note 7 fires, in BBC. 2017, BBC.

Lian, T., et al., (Invited) Changes in Thermal Stability of Cyclic Aged Commercial Lithium-Ion Cells. ECS Transactions, 2019. 89(1): p. 73-81.

Dubarry, M., et al., State of health battery estimator enabling degradation diagnosis: Model and algorithm description. Journal of Power Sources, 2017. 360: p. 59-69.