Durability of phase-change-material module and its relieving effect on battery deterioration during long-term cycles

Phase change material cooling is now a hotspot in the field of battery thermal management. However, for promoting the practical application, the long-term durability of the phase change material module requires further evaluation, and thus, its relieving effect on the performance-deterioration of the battery module can be analyzed to further optimize the cooling structure of the actual battery packs. In this study, we investigate the thermo-electrochemical performance of a battery module with phase change material cooling for 200 cycles. The results show that after coupling with phase change material cooling, the temperature and temperature gradient of the module can be reduced to a large extent, for example, an obvious decrease of the maximum temperature from 51.7 to 47.5 degrees C at the 200th cycle. Thus, the cycle life can be prolonged by 65.3% compared with that of the module without phase change material. After systematically analyzing the internal resistance, impedance and micro/crystal structure of the electrodes in the cell, the relieving effect of the phase change material cooling on the performance deterioration can be attributed to the alleviation of the cell inconsistency and the cathode destruction during the long-term cycles.