Numerical investigations on thermal performance of PCM-based lithium-ion battery thermal management system equipped with advanced honeycomb structures

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) have a key role in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions contributed by the transportation sector. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery which is composed of different cells is the major component in EV, that serves as the power source due to its superior performance. Battery thermal management systems (BTMS) are essential to improve the life and performance and to reduce the risk of fire hazards. In the present study, a single Li-ion cell with Phase Change Material (PCM) and fins is numerically modeled. The finite volume-based simulation is used to predict the heat transfer and flow characteristics of the systems at various operating conditions. Three different unconventional honeycomb-shaped finned PCM systems including baseline model are simulated and compared against the case of PCM without fins and simple honeycomb fin. Cell maximum temperature, temperature difference, and PCM liquid fraction are selected as the parameters for the performance comparison among the different finned configurations. A reduction of 2.77% in maximum cell temperature is obtained in a simple honeycomb structure compared to no fin design at 5C discharge conditions. It is also concluded that the three advanced honeycomb structure shows similar thermal performance but shows better performance than simple honeycomb structure. It is found that 1-Tetradecanol and n-Eicosane PCMs reduce the maximum cell temperature by 13.36 K and 11.81 K, respectively, compared to RT-35 PCM at 5C discharge. The results show that the proposed BTMS exhibits maximum performance at 309.15 K ambient temperature with copper fins and 1-Tetradecanol as PCM.