Seminar
1:30 - 2:30 pm, Friday, Feb 16, 2024
OKT N277 (MAE Department Conference Room)
Understanding Battery Thermal Runaway by Leveraging Combustion Concepts and Research Tools
Dr. Peng Zhao
Associate Professor
Laboratory of Advanced Mobility and Power (LAMP)
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of Tennessee Space InstituteEmail: pzhao12@utk.edu
Abstract:
With fast expansion of electric vehicle and energy storage markets, thermal runaway of Li-ion batteries has become a major concern for ground transportation and public safety. Fundamentally, battery thermal runaway is essentially controlled by the coupling of chemical reactions and heat transfer and hence bears similarity to a combustion process. Therefore, concepts and tools in combustion research can be utilized to provide insights into the thermochemical behavior of Li-ion battery thermal runaway. This talk focuses on the modeling, experiment, and mitigation of Li-ion battery thermal runaway, from a combustion perspective. Combustion concepts such as minimum ignition energy can be readily adapted to evaluate the regime boundary of safety. Concepts of mild combustion and stretched S-curve can be used to mitigate thermal runaway and guide battery design. By drawing an analogy to flame propagation, a reaction-conduction theory is developed to describe thermal runaway initiation and propagation in condensed materials. Combustion research methods such as sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification, and CFD can all be used to probe thermal runaway models, understand thermal runaway testing results, and evaluate the thermal stability of battery materials and fire safety of battery packs.
Speaker’s Short-Bio:
Prof. Peng Zhao is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering and Space Institute of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University in 2015. From 2015-2020, he is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University. His research interests primarily focus on fundamental-based and application-oriented problems in the frontier areas of combustion, propulsion, energy conversion and fire safety. His current research activities include low-carbon fuels, Li-ion battery safety, multiphysical numerical simulation, etc. He has published 60+ peer-reviewed articles in leading combustion and energy journals and 1 book chapter. He is a Bernard Lewis Fellow of the International Combustion Institute, session chair of the International Combustion Symposium, session organizer of SAE World Congress, and member of the Early Career and Diversity Development Committee of the US Combustion Institute.
