Low-Temperature Operation for Li Batteries, Do We Need a Heater?

[Iris]

Yesterday I was talking to a colleague who has similar stacker with me.

The battery will be installed in a stacker that works in a frozen goods chamber. The temperature there is -18°C. It doesn't stay there permanently, but it's used for movement within that environment. During charging or rest periods, it's kept in an environment of 5 to 10°C.

This colleague told me that his equipment has a heater for the lithium battery. If the battery freezes, it can't be recovered; it's completely out of service and has to be replaced.
I want to know if this is correct, considering that the equipment will be working under those temperature conditions. Should we have that heating system for the battery?
Or is it common for these batteries to operate at low temperatures without being damaged?

Please.

 

[Korishan]

Well, it's a yes and no response.

Yes, the battery should have a heater, if it's going to be charged in those temperatures. If it's actively being used it's producing enough heat through use to keep it warmed up.

No, it shouldn't freeze and be beyond recovery, however it can be damaged if trying to use it when it's fully at that temps.

Having an onboard heater isn't a bad idea, it's a sort of insurance at that point.

Key take away is that if the machine is in relative constant use, probably don't have to worry about it. Meaning it only sits idle doing nothing for hours at a time; I doubt that's a problem in your case. The lift have enough thermal mass that you could probably leave it in there for 8 hours and the battery would barely be getting below 0C.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much as you'd need to move it out of the cold environment to charge it anyways. It'll run, but very sluggishly if it gets that cold.

-18C isn't *that* cold, all things considered. These things are used in blast freezers and up in the northern US where it can reach -30C and they usually fine.