Experimental investigation on the impact of evaporative cooling based battery thermal management system on charging process of valve regulated lead acid batteries in E-bike

The thermal behaviour of valve regulated lead acid batteries with an evaporative cooling-based thermal management system is experimentally examined during the charging process of an E-bike. The thermal behaviour of valve regulated lead acid batteries is investigated during charging process with three different cooling strategies: evaporative cooling-based battery thermal management system, pre-cooling + battery thermal management system, and natural convection. The valve regulated lead acid batteries from the OREVA ALISH E-bike were used for testing. A portable evaporative cooling system was built for investigation based on available space on the E-bike. The results show that the developed evaporative cooling-based battery thermal management system kept temperatures between 1.5°C and 2.2°C below ambient during the charging process. The temperature of the battery during the charging process is increased slightly, by 1.6°C during the pre-cooling + battery thermal management system cooling mode. The temperature uniformity among valve regulated lead acid batteries was improved during the charging process with pre-cooling + thermal management system cooling mode.