Experimental study on cooling performance of cylindrical 6S5P lithium-ion battery module with phase change material

Abstract

The performance of the Li-ion battery module (6S5P) with composite PCMs is investigated for its cooling behavior. To transfer the heat generated by the battery module, paraffin (PCM1) and Granular Paraffin (PCM2) with copper sintering are used. The battery module consists of 30 cells with a capacity of 13 Ah, and the nominal voltage is 22.2 V. The performance of battery modules is studied at a discharge rate of 1C with different cooling approaches viz natural cooling, forced cooling, PCM cooling, and PCM + Copper sintering cooling. The composite PCM is prepared by the sintering method to control the temperature achieved during the solidification of copper. It has been observed that the addition of copper sintering to the PCM enhances the cooling performance of battery modules. The thermal efficiencies obtained in different cooling approaches, viz natural cooling, forced cooling, PCM1, PCM1 + Cu, PCM2, and PCM2 + Cu efficiencies are 9.15 %, 11.04 %, 30.35 %, 38.92 %, 48.38 %, and 54 %, respectively. The results indicate the importance of PCM-based cooling in improving the cooling efficiency of lithium-ion battery packs, particularly when sintered with copper compared with natural and forced cooling in terms of maximum temperature (Tmax) and maximum temperature difference (ΔTmax).