Enhancement of Thermal Insulation Performance with Phase Change Material for Thermal Batteries

Lee, Jaein; Ha, Sang-hyeon; Kim, Kiyoul; Cheong, Haewon; Cho, Sungbaek

doi:2016.19.4.469

J. KIMS Technol > Volume 19(4); 2016 > Article

Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology 2016;19(4):469-475.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.9766/KIMST.2016.19.4.469

Enhancement of Thermal Insulation Performance with Phase Change Material for Thermal Batteries

Jaein Lee, Sang-hyeon Ha, Kiyoul Kim, Haewon Cheong, Sungbaek Cho

The 4th Research and Development Institute, Agency for Defense Development

상변화 물질을 이용한 열전지 단열성능 향상에 관한 연구

이재인, 하상현, 김기열, 정해원, 조성백

국방과학연구소 제4기술연구본부

Abstract

Thermal batteries are primary reserve power sources, which are activated upon the melting of eutectic electrolytes by the ignition of heat sources. Therefore, sufficient thermal insulation is absolutely needed for the stable operation of thermal batteries. Currently, excessive amount of heat sources is being used to compensate the heat loss in the cell stack along with the insertion of metal plates and thermal insulators to reserve heat at the both ends of cell stack. However, there is a possibility that the excessive heat flows into the cell stack, causing a thermal runaway at the early stage of discharge. At the same time, the internal temperature of thermal batteries cannot be maintained above the battery operating temperature at the later stage of discharge because of the insufficient insulation. Therefore, the effects of Phase Changing Material(PCM) plates were demonstrated in this study, which can replace the metal and insulating plates, to improve the thermal insulation performance and safety of thermal batteries.

Key Words: Thermal Battery, Thermal Insulation Performance, PCM, Latent Heat