Dielectric flow- and tab-based battery thermal management system for EV high performance application

Abstract

From the perspectives of security, durability, and proper operation, effective temperature control via thermal management systems (TMSs) on lithium-ion batteries is crucial for electric vehicle use. In this regard, a novel TMS based on dielectric flow and tab cooling was presented in this paper. A functional prototype of the system was developed and experimentally tested for performance analysis. A thermal model was built on computational fluid dynamics software, and a comparative analysis of the initial and an optimised geometry of the prototype was carried on after validation. Results demonstrate the adequate response of the system. Thermally speaking, temperature decrease was noticed during operation, and the internal and among-cells thermal gradient was preserved into the recommended span. Besides, the used dielectric fluid assisted with a low auxiliary consumption due to its particular viscosity. With the new geometry, the dielectric flow duct volume was reduced by 79.8%, and the system particularities were enhanced due to heat dissipation improvement: operating temperatures were even lower in every scenario examined. The temperature difference among cells was reduced by 15%. Thermal dispersion within the cells was still below the limit, despite being increased. Moreover, the necessary pumping energy consumption was below 0.004% of the exchanged battery module’s energy, demonstrating the TMS efficiency. Thus, the application potential of the dielectric tab cooling-based system for electric vehicles was highlighted.