Optimization design and numerical study on thermal performance of a novel diamond-type channel cold plate

Abstract

Heat dissipation capacity is of great importance object for the battery thermal management system (BTMS). To obtain a simple and efficient liquid cooling method for rectangular lithium-ion battery, three types of diamond channel (line, inner arc and outer arc) cold plate were established. Firstly, the temperature rise of line diamond microchannel cold plate under basic conditions were simulated. Then, an experimental device for measuring the surface temperatures of cold plate was designed, and the numerical simulation results were verified. The results showed that the errors between the avenge temperature (Tavg) of experiment and simulation were between 0.66% and 2.1%, and the inner arc diamond-type channel cold plate had better cooling effectiveness. Then the effects of the connection form of the intermediate channel, structural parameters and the layout of the inlet and outlet on the cooling performance of the cold plate were discussed. The pressure drop (ΔP) and Tavg of the best results reach 5.33Pa and 36.52 °C respectively. Compared with the initial condition, ΔP was decreased by 32.81Pa (86.03%) and Tavg was decreased by 0.69 °C (1.9%). The above research results depict that the new diamond-shaped cold plate proposed in this paper could greatly enhance the cooling performance of the liquid-cooling system.