A Model Order Reduction Method for the Temperature Estimation in a Cylindrical Li-Ion Battery Cell

The thermal characterization of Li-ion batteries for EVs, HEVs and PHEVs is a topic of great relevance, especially for the evaluation of the battery pack state of health (SoH) during vehicle operations and for battery life estimation. This work proposes a reduced-order model that estimates the thermal dynamics of a cylindrical Li-ion battery cell, with respect to time-varying current demands. Unlike most “black-box” dynamic models, based on system identification techniques, the proposed approach relies on the definition of a boundary-value problem for heat conduction, in the form of a linear partial differential equation. The problem is then converted into a low-order linear model by applying model-order reduction method in the frequency domain. The resulting model predicts the temperature dynamics at the center and at the external surface in relation with the rate of heat generation and the coolant temperature. In this paper, the model is applied to estimate the internal temperature of a cylindrical cell during a discharging transient. The model uses electrical data acquired from experimental tests and is validated by comparison with experimental data and 3D FEM thermal simulation.