IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i11p2709-d1662771.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Suppression Using Water Spray Cooling

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Huhn

    (William States Lee College of Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Nicole Braxtan

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Shen-En Chen

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Anthony Bombik

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Tiefu Zhao

    (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Lin Ma

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • John Sherman

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

  • Soroush Roghani

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA)

Abstract

Despite the commercial success of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the risk of thermal runaway, which can lead to dangerous fires, has become more concerning as LIB usage increases. Research has focused on understanding the causes of thermal runaway and how to prevent or detect it. Additionally, novel thermal runaway-resistant materials are being researched, as are different methods of constructing LIBs that better isolate thermal runaway and prevent it from propagating. However, field firefighters are using hundreds of thousands of liters of water to control large runaway thermal emergencies, highlighting the need to merge research with practical observations. To study battery fire, this study utilized a temperature abuse method to increase LIB temperature and investigated whether thermal runaway can be suppressed by applying external cooling during heating. The batteries used were pouch-type ones and subjected to high states of charge (SOC), which primed the thermal runaway during battery temperature increase. A water spray method was then devised and tested to reduce battery temperature. Results showed that, without cooling, a thermal runaway fire occurred every time during the thermal abuse. However, external cooling successfully prevented thermal runaway. This observation shows that using water as a temperature reducer is more effective than using it as a fire suppressant, which can substantially improve battery performance and increase public safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Huhn & Nicole Braxtan & Shen-En Chen & Anthony Bombik & Tiefu Zhao & Lin Ma & John Sherman & Soroush Roghani, 2025. "Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Suppression Using Water Spray Cooling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-22, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:11:p:2709-:d:1662771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/11/2709/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/11/2709/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:11:p:2709-:d:1662771. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.