LAUSR

Abstract Cell variations always undermine the efficiency of energy utilization of battery pack. How does the temperature non-uniformity affect the status of cell variations remains unclear. This paper investigates the underlying mechanisms of the status change of cell variations caused by temperature non-uniformity in a battery pack. First, the status of cell variations has been defined using a graphical model, in which each cell has a coordinate of (capacity, electric quantity). Second, the status transformation caused by temperature non-uniformity has been clarified. Dynamics that describes the thermal-electrochemical effect on the movement of the coordinate for individual cells are firstly established by transformation functions. The movement of the cell locations in the graphical model can vividly interpret the evolution of cell variations caused by temperature non-uniformity with the help of the built transformation functions. Modelling analysis points out that 5 °C increase in the maximum temperature difference among the battery pack can lead to 1.5%–2% capacity loss of the battery pack, therefore the capacity loss caused by cell variations due to temperature non-uniformity should be considered in battery system design. The methodology can be further used to analyze the status change of cell variations in a battery pack caused by all kinds of temperature non-uniformities, benefiting the design of battery management system with high efficiency of energy utilization.