Numerical studies of lithium-ion battery thermal management systems using phase change materials and metal foams

Summary A thermal management system with the capability of achieving excellent heat dissipation is essential to the development of battery pack for transportation devices. To meet the temperature uniformity requirements of the battery pack, the plate flat heat pipe and liquid‐cooled coupled multistage heat dissipation system had been introduced. In this article, the research status of thermal management systems in battery pack was introduced. And the heat generation and heating power of the Li‐ion cell were studied. Then, the structure model of plate flat heat pipe system was proposed. Finally, the enhanced heat conduction effect of the thermal management system proposed in this article was comprehensively analyzed. Through the analysis of the results, in high discharge rates, the thermal management system proposed in this article could meet the temperature uniformity requirements of battery pack; also, the internal difference would reduce by 30.20%.

Section: Physical Model and Numerical Analysis Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Plate flat heat pipe and liquid-cooled coupled multistage heat dissipation system of Li-ion battery

Tang

et al. 2018

“…However, the low thermal conductivity (generally below 0.5 W m −1 K −1 ) of pure PCM makes them response tardily to the heat surge of the battery pack, especially when a thick layer of PCM is used . Therefore, conductive fillers and matrices were researched to enhance the thermal behavior of PCM . With having high thermal conductivities, graphene and carbon fiber were mainly used as the conductive filler to improve the thermal conductivity of PCM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance assessment of a passive core cooling design for cylindrical lithium-ion batteries

Zhao

Liu

2018

Summary Battery thermal management (BTM) system is an indispensable component for large‐sized lithium‐ion battery packs used in aerospace and automotive applications. Besides providing a proper temperature range for batteries to operate, thus improving their efficiency, lifespan, and safety, the BTM system also needs to be well designed with considering the cost, weight, and practicability. In this paper, an internal passive BTM system is proposed for the cylindrical Li‐ion batteries. The design embeds a phase change material (PCM) filled mandrel inside the battery to achieve the cooling effect. A thermal test cell is first fabricated and tested in a wind tunnel under different cooling scenarios, and it is also used to verify a numerical thermal model. The proposed BTM system is further examined through the model and found to be able to create a preferable environment for batteries to operate. Specifically, the core BTM system consumes less PCM and achieves lower temperature rises and more uniform temperature distributions than an external BTM system. The proposed design can also exert its full latent heat to manage the heat generated from the battery without having a thermally conductive matrix, which is usually composite with PCM in external BTM systems. In addition, experiments show that the battery equipped with the proposed BTM system is ready for intensive cycling tests.

“…But low thermal conductivity is the greatest disadvantage of PCM. Thus, PCM combining with high thermal conductivity material such as carbon fiber, graphite sheet, graphene, and metal foams is proposed to improve its thermal conductivity. However, it is also a big problem that the heat stored in PCM cannot dissipate to the ambient in time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation on mini-channel cooling-based thermal management for Li-ion battery module under different cooling schemes

Zhou

Chen

et al. 2018

Summary The performance of Li‐ion battery depends on the temperature. Active liquid cooling system can keep the battery temperature within an optimal range, but the system itself consumes energy. This paper reported the experimental work on the thermal performance of liquid cooling system for the battery module under different cooling schemes. It was hoped that energy consumption could be reduced as much as possible. Meanwhile, liquid cooling system could provide effective cooling for the battery module. Two identical real battery modules including 18 cylindrical cells (with and without cooling system) were manufactured for the validity of comparison. The 2 battery modules discharged at the discharge rates of 1C and 1.5C. Charge and discharge cycle test was also carried out. The results indicated that a simple hysteresis control cooling scheme could reduce the energy consumption effectively. The energy consumption was saved by 83.2% and 49% at the discharge rates of 1C and 1.5C, respectively. Meanwhile, the temperature of battery module was still kept within the optimal range. The maximum temperature appeared on different cells in the battery module during the process of charge and discharge. Thus, the temperature dynamic comparison mechanism was very necessary.