Recent Progress and Prospects in Liquid Cooling Thermal Management System for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

The performance of lithium-ion batteries is closely related to temperature, and much attention has been paid to their thermal safety. With the increasing application of the lithium-ion battery, higher requirements are put forward for battery thermal management systems. Compared with other cooling methods, liquid cooling is an efficient cooling method, which can control the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference of the battery within an acceptable range. This article reviews the latest research in liquid cooling battery thermal management systems from the perspective of indirect and direct liquid cooling. Firstly, different coolants are compared. The indirect liquid cooling part analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different liquid channels and system structures. Direct cooling summarizes the different systems’ differences in cooling effectiveness and energy consumption. Then, the combination of liquid cooling, air cooling, phase change materials, and heat pipes is examined. Later, the connection between the cooling and heating functions in the liquid thermal management system is considered. In addition, from a safety perspective, it is found that liquid cooling can effectively manage thermal runaway. Finally, some problems are put forward, and a summary and outlook are given.

Application of Refrigerant Cooling in a Battery Thermal Management System under High Temperature Conditions: A Review

“…Liquid cooling remains the mainstream method for heat dissipation to date . Under the same flow channels and power consumption, the temperature of liquid cooling BTM module is lower, ensuring better temperature uniformity . The direct cooling of battery packs using refrigerants has emerged as a new cooling solution in recent years.…”

“… 27 Under the same flow channels and power consumption, the temperature of liquid cooling BTM module is lower, ensuring better temperature uniformity. 28 The direct cooling of battery packs using refrigerants has emerged as a new cooling solution in recent years. Through experiments conducted under vehicle conditions, a comparison is made between the thermal performances of two-phase refrigerant cooling and liquid cooling with the same outer diameter.…”

The Impact of a Combined Battery Thermal Management and Safety System Utilizing Polymer Mini-Channel Cold Plates on the Thermal Runaway and Its Propagation

“…Further classification can be conducted in terms of flow configuration (serial, parallel), exceptional media cooling (nano-fluids, heat pipes), or a unique location of heat dissipation, such as from the cell tabs [23]. The state-of-the-art applications of each category are discussed in detail in [1,[24][25][26][27][28][29]. In general, battery cells can be cooled by air, liquids, or Phase Change Materials (PCMs).…”

“…Nevertheless, these systems are simple, low-cost, and lightweight [26]. If high heat dissipation requirements have to be met, such as those experienced during fast charging, liquid cooling remains the preferred method, as recently affirmed by [25]. However, the need for leakage prevention increases the price and complexity [26].…”

Organic and Inorganic Hybrid Composite Phase Change Material for Inhibiting the Thermal Runaway of Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…However, the long-term operation of batteries at a high temperature reduces their lifetime and may induce thermal runaway, leading to great danger [4][5][6]. As a result, the construction of a thermal management system for lithium-ion batteries has been proposed in order to assure the safety of the batteries [7][8][9].…”