Scenario-Based Safety Assessment Of Thermal Runaway In Evtol Battery Applications

Abstract

Recent battery research shows new approaches for module-level strategies to prevent thermal runaway propagation through the use of thermal barriers and advanced heat dissipation methods. Since evidence for failure mechanisms and propagation processes is still new and limited, we propose a scenario-based safety assessment in this paper, ranging from very conservative to progressive assumptions. The focus of the analysis is on the interaction of the two protection technologies to investigate whether the battery system can potentially meet the safety targets for manned eVTOL and UAV use cases. The analysis shows that even under the most conservative scenario, UAV safety targets could be met with a moderate mass penalty, but a further reduction of the failure probability for manned aircraft increases the mass penalty to a greater extent.