Electro-Thermal Analysis of Lithium-Ion Battery Modules Equipped with Thermal Barrier Pad for Urban Air Mobility During Flight Scenarios

This study presents an electro-thermal analysis of high-power lithium-ion battery modules for urban air mobility (UAM) applications, focusing on assessing the operational impact of installing a thermal barrier pad (TBP)—designed for thermal runaway delay—to ensure that the module maintains acceptable performance during normal operations. An integrated electro-thermal simulation model was developed and validated through single-cell experiments under step-load conditions, showing good agreement with measured voltage and temperature. In the baseline module without a TBP, higher discharge rates resulted in increased heat generation and cell temperatures, with approximately 42.5% of the electrical output dissipated as heat under the 5C condition. When the TBP was applied, the cooling performance of the heat sink decreased, leading to higher module temperatures and increased temperature differences between the cell and the heat sink, particularly as the TBP thickness increased. A simplified UAM flight scenario was simulated to evaluate temperature behavior throughout various operating phases. For the 1.5 mm TBP model, the maximum temperature (75.7 °C) remained within the design limit (80 °C). However, increasing the maximum take-off discharge rate to 6C or higher caused the module to reach its thermal limit or cut-off voltage before mission completion. These results indicate that TBP installation can be applied without unacceptable performance degradation under normal operation, provided that its thickness is optimized by considering cooling performance, thermal safety, and weight/volume constraints in UAM applications.