A numerical investigation on phase change material based battery thermal management system

Abstract

In this present work a Numerical investigation on phase change material-based battery thermal management system in electrical vehicle is carried out. A lithium-ion battery pack is developed by using 18650 lithium-ion cells and employing a phase change material cooling. PCM can control the temperature abnormalities and maintain temperature uniformity in Lithium-ion batteries by changing its phase by absorbing or releasing the abundant heat for the battery. The PCM based BTMS is designed and, the use of copper nanoparticles as a additive to the paraffin wax to improve the thermal properties of the pure paraffin. Then the effects of forced air convection, a reduction in the battery temperature can be observed for the various convection rates.Simulation results show the effect of various ambient temperature and convection rate to the battery pack. The lithium- ion battery is also subjected to a 2C discharge rate. The use of Copper nanoparticles within the PCM battery module increases the thermal properties of the Phase change material cooling there by increasing the efficiency and the cooling effect for the system. The simulation results indicate that the temperature of the battery is high at the core of the battery pack and gradually decreases towards the sides of the battery pack There was about 35% reduction in battery module temperature is observed for higher convection rate with 10% copper nano particles addition.