Structurally Distributed Aircraft Battery

Details

• Creators:
  Kumar, Jitendra ; Morgan, Alexander
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI). Power and Energy Division Solid-State Battery & Integrated Systems Laboratory
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. William J. Hughes Technical Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Airplanes Battery Enclosure And Heat Dissipation Battery Thermal Runaway Battery Voltage Loss Distributed Electric Power Systems Electric Power Generation And Transmission Electric Vehicles Fatigue Resiliency Of Battery Enclosure Finite Element Method Mechanical Loads Modular Battery Pack Design For Electric Aircraft Thermal Properties

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FAA/TC-24/27
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/4vg1-6344
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Contracting Officer:
  Maloney, Thomas
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. William J. Hughes Technical Center
• Abstract:
  Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are critical to the early adoption of electrified small aircraft because LIBs can provide the required energy, power, and cycle life. However, safety is still a concern, especially in dangerous situations like aircraft crashes or operations in harsh conditions. If damaged, the battery can release stored energy fast, leading to a battery fire known as thermal runaway (TR). Safety problems are particularly challenging for aircraft batteries due to their large size, many times larger than battery packs used in electric vehicles. One way to mitigate safety problems is to design LIBs in small sizes to minimize safety risks. Another engineering solution is to design mechanically and thermally stable battery enclosures to protect LIB packs from various adverse environmental effects, especially mechanical damage (e.g. puncture), which leads to electrical shorting and accelerates exothermic reactions, enabling TR propagation from one cell (or module) to another. Ideally, TR from a damaged cell or module to a nearby cell or module can be controlled using a thick battery enclosure. However, a battery enclosure that is very thick and heavy would reduce the battery energy density significantly, which practically is unacceptable. This project answers questions, such as how big one battery module should be, how much protection do the batteries need, and how they should be protected without adding too much extra weight, negating the advantage of high energy in today's and future aerospace battery systems. Based on data generated in this project, design guidelines are provided for a LIB module comprising the right battery cell chemistry and its format. It also provides guidelines for a secondary battery enclosure to facilitate natural heating-cooling, desired mechanical protection, thermal isolation, and containment of battery fire gases in the fire event.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  692M15-20-C-00014
• Collection(s):
  FAA Technical Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:48c0d52ecc19cdd9af5c46dcd3c9a7a068dd402fb74e17c300318fc03aacb784481d5a839ca370923dbf586b67cef075393a19c03c7d24ea02dab453ad58422e
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/85518/dot_85518_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.93 MB ]