Thermal runaway propagation (TRP) is a primary safety issue in lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications, and the use of a thermal barrier is considered to be a promising solution for TRP prevention. However, the operating conditions of the battery are extremely complicated, such as fast charging, low-temperature heating and thermal runaway. To date, there is no consistent answer as to how to choose the appropriate thermal barrier for such a complicated working environment. In this study, the characteristics of hydrogel based on sodium polyacrylate are explored, and the impact of thermal barrier area on TRP is investigated through experiments. Due to the prismatic battery structure, thermal barriers placed between cells are designed with different areas (148 × 98 mm, 128 × 88 mm, and 108 × 78 mm). The results indicate that test 1 without a placed thermal barrier quickly completes the TRP process, and the thermal runaway (TR) behavior is more violent. With a thermal barrier that does not have full area coverage placed between cells (test 2 and test 3), the propagation time is prolonged, but TRP still occurs. Compared with test 1, the triggered temperature of T2 F (the front surface of cell 2) is reduced by 207.6 °C and 295.2 °C, respectively. The complete area coverage thermal barrier successfully prevents TRP, and the T2 F of cell 2 only reaches 145.4 °C under the phase change by the hydrogel. This study may suggest a safety design for battery modules and prevent propagation among batteries.

A new model for simulating battery temperature changes from the lower surface to the upper surface is proposed. The cell model is established with experimental calibration. Simultaneously, the Cell-to-Pack model is established through experimental benchmarking. In addition, the thermal properties of Cell-to-Pack and an ordinary battery pack that has an enclosure on the basis were compared under four different working conditions. The results indicate that adding an enclosure to the Cell-to-Pack has little effect on the thermal performance of the battery pack. Adding an enclosure to the Cell-to-Pack hardly improve the temperature uniformity of the battery under cooling conditions; the temperature difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the batteries at both ends of the module drops by approximately 0.5°C, while the central temperature difference is basically unchanged. Compared with fast charging without cooling, the battery temperature dropped by more than 12°C under the fast charge condition with cooling. More importantly, the specific energy and packaging efficiency of the battery dropped from 160.27Wh·kg⁻¹ and 73.1% to 148.72 Wh·kg⁻¹ and 67.8%, respectively, after the Cell-to-Pack was added with an enclosure.