Preliminary tests of mechanical abuse - nail tests of LIBs

Current tunnel safety concepts are based on the experience of conventional fuel vehicle accidents. The transition in the coming years will involve the use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas and the use of electric vehicles. Among them, it seems that in the near future medium-sized and small vehicles will be powered electrically by lithium-ion batteries (city cars). The main problem of electric vehicles with Lithium-Ion batteries (LIBs) lies in the heat release rate (HRR), and toxic compounds released by LIB fire. Thermal runaway to a fire can be triggered by temperature, electricity, and mechanical abuse. The latter is more complex to manage via the Battery Management System (BMS) or cell architecture. In the present work, preliminary results of LIBs tested by nail test, inside a calorimeter are shown. The LIB cell tested and modelled is a SAMSUNG INR-18650-29E. Such a cell was tested at 100% SOC reaching temperatures above 800 °C and a maximum pressure value of about 4 bar. The concentration of CO inside the chamber was measured. The measured CO level ranged from 3000-4000 ppm(v), comparable to other research. The model implemented on COMSOL consists of two components: a 1D model that aims to simulate the electrochemical behaviour of the battery through a pseudo-two-dimensional (p2D) model, while the 3D model simulates heat transfer only.