Lithium-ion battery thermal management system with Al2O3/AgO/CuO nanofluids and phase change material

Abstract

Nanofluids are emerging heat transfer media. Notably, usage of these materials in electronic cooling applications exhibits many peculiar benefits. This paper attemps to analyze the battery thermal management system for pouch lithium-ion battery modules. The experiments were conducted for pure water and nanofluid type battery thermal management systems combined with copper foam filled with paraffin wax as a phase change material with massive heat storage potential. An aluminum heat sink—specifically designed for this purpose—was considered as the inlet duct. A battery surrogate was employed to simulate the heat generated by Li-ion battery at high current discharge and the onset of thermal runaway conditions. The results of experimental tests revealed that the cooling efficiency of the system based on nanofluids is improved significantly. Different oxide-nanofluid slurries were tested and among all AgO was the best candidate. The maximum temperature of the battery is reduced by about 4.1 K by AgO/water nanofluid with %2 vol concentration compared to the battery thermal management systems based on pure water. It is further found that the maximum battery temperature difference is reduced by approximately 77% in the presence of copper foam with/without phase change material. The results also proved the imperative role of active/passive system combination that benefits the advantages of both approaches at the same time.