Lithium ion battery thermal management by using coupled heat pipe and liquid cold plate

Abstract

Operating temperature of lithium ion battery is critical factor for lifecycle, efficiency and energy storage. In electric vehicle thermal behaviour of batteries affects the overall range of vehicle. Aim of this paper is to provide a thermal management system for cylindrical batteries using heat pipe and cold plate. The heat pipe coupled with battery serves as heat transporter from battery to cold plate. The lumped parametricmodel based on hydro-electrical analogy was developed to verify thermal performance. Bench test setup is developed using actual cylindrical 18,650 type batteries and heating elements. The resultsof lumped parametricmodel compared with actual test data.Result shows temperature drop by 6 °C and uniform distribution along the length of battery. Thus proposed design is useful for Lithium ion battery performance and life.Novelty in the present research paper is two heat dissipating systems are combined viz. one active (cold plate) and another passive (heat pipe) which provides better heat dissipation and uniformity in temperature of battery cells.