An Experimental Parametric Study of Air-Based Battery Thermal Management System for Electric Vehicles

Author(s):  
Yuanzhi Liu ◽  
Mao Li ◽  
Jie Zhang

This paper develops an experimental platform and performs a parametric study of an air-based battery thermal management system (BTMS) for electric vehicles. A flexible experimental platform with ten battery cells is built up to investigate how key BTMS design parameters affect the battery thermal performance. Three design parameters are studied in this paper, including the mass flow rate of cooling air, the heat flux from the battery cells to the cooling air, and the passage spacing size. To evaluate the thermal performance of the battery system, two metrics (i.e., the maximum temperature rise and the maximum temperature Uniformity) are used. A design of experiments (here 30 groups) are conducted to analyze how the three key design parameters affect the thermal performance of the BTMS. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the BTMS is also performed to compare and help explain the experimental results. Both the experimental and CFD simulation results shows that: (i) decreasing the mass flow rate may deteriorate the thermal performance of the battery module; (ii) increasing the heat flux and enlarging the passage spacing size also deteriorate the battery thermal performance.

Author(s):  
Muhammad Muddasar

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are the need of the hour due to growing climate change problems linked with the transportation sector. Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS), which is accountable for certifying safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LiB), is the most vital part of an EV. LiB has auspicious gravimetric energy density but the heat generation due to chemical reactions inside a LiB during charging and discharging causes temperature rise which has a direct effect on LiB performance and safety. This study specifically focuses on aircooled BTMS, defines different types of air-cooled BTMS (active and Passive), discusses limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS, and investigates different optimization techniques and parameters to improve performance of air-cooled BTMS. Maintaining temperature within optimum range and uniform temperature distribution between cells of a battery pack are the major design parameters for improving the performance and efficiency of air-cooled BTMS. Various optimization techniques including cell arrangement with a battery pack, air-flow channel optimization, and air inlet/outlet position variations are discussed and each technique is thoroughly reviewed. Finally, it’s noted that passive air-cooled BTMS is not that effective for long-distance vehicles so most researchers shifted their focus toward active air-cooled BTMS. Active air-cooled BTMS requires a lot of power for effective performance. Lastly, the most recent field of air-cooled BTMS technology which is Air-Hybrid BTMS is discussed and declared a very promising solution for overcoming major limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 850 (1) ◽  
pp. 012031
Author(s):  
Y Ashwin Ramanathan ◽  
G Anuradha ◽  
Harish Rajan ◽  
R Lakshmi Sriman

Abstract Electric vehicles are being developed as a crucial tool in the fight against global warming and car pollution. As a result, battery heat management is critical for optimal operation in all climates in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Extreme or higher temperatures may cause the battery’s maximum voltage to drop and its durability to deteriorate. An effective battery cooling system is required for the safe operation of electric vehicles throughout their lifecycle. The current work involves the simulation of a battery thermal management system that employs nano-enhanced phase change materials (NEPCM). Ansys Fluent is used to conduct the numerical analysis. To test the thermal performance, paraffin wax is used as the base fluid, into which various combinations of nanoparticles such as Copper Oxide, Copper, and Multi Walled Carbon Tube (MWCNT) are disseminated. The parametric study is carried out by altering the battery temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction. The findings show that at large particle volume fractions, the battery system’s heat transmission properties are greatly improved. The findings of this study will aid in the identification of optimal NEPCMs with increased thermal performance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Song Sun ◽  
Rui-Huai Bai

Abstract With the development of modern technology and economy, environmental protection and sustainable development have become the focus of global attention. In this paper, the promotion and development of electric vehicles have bright prospects, and they are also facing many challenges. Under different operating conditions, various safety problems of electric vehicles are emerging one after another, especially the potential safety hazards caused by battery overheating are threatening the development process of electric vehicles. In this paper, a new type of indirect liquid cooling system is designed and optimized for cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, and a variety of design schemes for different cooling channel structures and cooling liquid inlet direction are proposed, and the corresponding solid-fluid coupling model is established. COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software models, simulates and analyses cooling systems. In order to optimize the system and improve the optimization efficiency, the Kriging method is used to construct an approximation model of the thermal management system, and the influencing factors sensitivity analysis and optimization design of the thermal management system are also conducted. The results show that there has a significant influence on the maximum temperature and temperature difference of the battery system. According to the optimization design of these factors based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II), it is found that the optimized thermal management system has the best ability to dissipate heat and maintain temperature uniformity as compared to the original design. In addition, this optimization system has the ability to prevent thermal runaway propagation under the condition of thermal abuse conditions. With these prominent performances, the proposed method is expected to provide insights into the engineering design and optimization of the battery thermal management system for electric vehicle.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Muddasar

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are the need of the hour due to growing climate change problems linked with the transportation sector. Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS), which is accountable for certifying safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LiB), is the most vital part of an EV. LiB has auspicious gravimetric energy density but the heat generation due to chemical reactions inside a LiB during charging and discharging causes temperature rise which has a direct effect on LiB performance and safety. This study specifically focuses on aircooled BTMS, defines different types of air-cooled BTMS (active and Passive), discusses limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS, and investigates different optimization techniques and parameters to improve performance of air-cooled BTMS. Maintaining temperature within optimum range and uniform temperature distribution between cells of a battery pack are the major design parameters for improving the performance and efficiency of air-cooled BTMS. Various optimization techniques including cell arrangement with a battery pack, air-flow channel optimization, and air inlet/outlet position variations are discussed and each technique is thoroughly reviewed. Finally, it’s noted that passive air-cooled BTMS is not that effective for long-distance vehicles so most researchers shifted their focus toward active air-cooled BTMS. Active air-cooled BTMS requires a lot of power for effective performance. Lastly, the most recent field of air-cooled BTMS technology which is Air-Hybrid BTMS is discussed and declared a very promising solution for overcoming major limitations associated with air-cooled BTMS.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8094
Author(s):  
Bichao Lin ◽  
Jiwen Cen ◽  
Fangming Jiang

It is important for the safety and good performance of a Li-ion battery module/pack to have an efficient thermal management system. In this paper, a battery thermal management system with a two-phase refrigerant circulated by a pump was developed. A battery module consisting of 240 18650-type Li-ion batteries was fabricated based on a finned-tube heat-exchanger structure. This structural design offers the potential to reduce the weight of the battery thermal management system. The cooling performance of the battery module was experimentally studied under different charge/discharge C-rates and with different refrigerant circulation pump operation frequencies. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the cooling system. It was found that the refrigerant-based battery thermal management system could maintain the battery module maximum temperature under 38 °C and the temperature non-uniformity within 2.5 °C for the various operation conditions considered. The experimental results with 0.5 C charging and a US06 drive cycle showed that the thermal management system could reduce the maximum temperature difference in the battery module from an initial value of 4.5 °C to 2.6 °C, and from the initial 1.3 °C to 1.1 °C, respectively. In addition, the variable pump frequency mode was found to be effective at controlling the battery module, functioning at a desirable constant temperature and at the same time minimizing the pump work consumption.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document