Multi-scale, electro-thermal model of NMC battery cell

Battery models often either fail to deliver a complete picture of the physical phenomena occurring in the cell or fail to minimize computational effort. So far, the demand for a detailed internal thermal model of battery cells with a reasonable computation time has remained unanswered. This paper addresses such question introducing a multi-domain model whose accuracy makes it suitable for thermal management system development, at a lower computational cost than competing models. The approach features an equivalent circuit parameter model with chemistry-based parameters coupled with an internal heat transfer model. The internal heat transfer model includes different sections of the cell, addressing the anisotropy and the temperature-dependence of physical properties. Material properties are partly based on manufacturer's data sheet, partly taken from literature. The development software platform enables a sensible reduction of computational effort with respect to traditional modeling techniques. Results were validated against an aggressive current at different temperatures and against current profiles obtained from two different drive cycles at different ambient temperature. The model proves to be very good in terms of accuracy.