High-Frequency Induction Heating: A Breakthrough for Reliable Thermal Runaway Triggering in Battery Safety Testing
Changyong Jin, Xuning Feng, Yuedong Sun, Zhengneng Wu, Fangshu Zhang, Xin Lai, Yuejiu Zheng, Chengshan Xu, Huaibin Wang, Hongcen Yang, Li Wang, Xiangming He, Minggao Ouyang
Abstract
This study presents a breakthrough in battery safety testing by developing high-frequency induction heating as a rapid, reliable, and standardized method for triggering thermal runaway (TR) in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Addressing the limitations of conventional techniques (e.g., nail penetration, external heating), this approach leverages the skin effect and magnetic shielding to achieve localized heating power density (>242.5 W/cm 2 ) with millisecond precision, inducing TR across multiple commercial formats (prismatic, pouch, cylindrical) while consuming <1% of cell capacity. Experimental and multiphysics simulations demonstrate its exceptional repeatability, revealing localized current densities up to 4.0 × 10 5 A/cm 2 and TR initiation within seconds. This layer-by-layer heating mechanism ensures minimal collateral damage, validated in high-safety lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and NMC cells, and addresses critical gaps in testing batteries (e.g., solid-state, sodium-ion). As global regulations (GB 38031, IEC 62619) evolve, this work proposes induction heating as a standardized solution, offering 100% TR initiation success and precise propagation control.