Analysis and design of module-level liquid cooling system for rectangular Li-ion batteries

Abstract

To promote energy conservation and emission reduction, the electric vehicles (EVs) are developing rapidly. An effective battery thermal management system (BTMS) can extend the service life of batteries and avoid thermal runaway. In this study, a liquid-cooling management system of a Li-ion battery (LIB) pack (Ni-Co-Mn, NCM) is established by CFD simulation. The effects of liquid-cooling plate connections, coolant inlet temperature, and ambient temperature on thermal performance of battery pack are studied under different layouts of the liquid-cooling plate. Then, A new heat dissipation scheme, variable temperature cooling of the inlet coolant, is proposed. Results indicate that connecting two sets of liquid coolant plates in a 3-series, 1-parallel configuration can effectively reduce the maximum temperature of the battery pack from 48.73 ℃ to 30.75 ℃, while controlling the maximum temperature difference to 3.98 ℃ at the end of discharge. Simultaneously, the proposed cooling scheme reduces the maximum temperature difference within the battery pack by 36.09 % at the beginning of the discharge period. This study provides a valuable reference into advancing BTMSs of battery pack-level for EVs.