Experimental study on preheating thermal management system for lithium-ion battery based on U-shaped micro heat pipe array

Abstract

The operation of lithium-ion battery (LIB) at low ambient temperature leads to voltage drop and capacity attenuation. Thus, an effective thermal management system (TMS) is necessary to preheat the LIB at low ambient temperature. In this study, a preheating TMS for LIB based on U-shaped micro heat pipe array (MHPA) is proposed. The preheating performance of the TMS based on U-shaped MHPA is analyzed through the experiments of heat pipe (HP) module covered and not covered with thermal insulation materials (TIMs) and the experiments of different electric heating powers. Results show that after the TIMs are covered, the temperature rise rate of the HP module in the preheating condition is increased by 386%, and the battery can be preheated from −20 °C to 0 °C in 26 min under 32 W electric heating. These findings prove that the TMS has excellent preheating performance. Moreover, the temperature rise rate of the HP module increases only by 9% under 1C charge and discharge after the TIMs are covered, proving that the preheating function of the TMS based on U-shaped MHPA does not interfere with the cooling function. Thus, this study provides guidance for the practical application of TMS.