Recent Progress of Phase Change Materials and a Novel Application to Cylindrical Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Management

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) are receiving more and more attention and becoming popular nowadays due to their unique thermophysical properties. However, the PCM has intrinsic shortcomings such as low thermal conductivity, poor cycle stability, and high degree of supercooling. This chapter presents a general review on the PCMs with major focus on the recent progress of various methods/routes developed to overcome the shortcomings of PCMs, and on their applications in lithium-ion battery thermal management system (BTMS). Meanwhile, a novel compact cooling system for thermal management of cylindrical lithium-ion battery packs is proposed, which is a hybrid of PCM and heat pipe cooling systems. Experiments are conducted to study or testify the effectiveness of the hybrid thermal management system and reveal the effects of heat pipe and PCM tube as well. It is found that the well-equipped hybrid cooling system can control the highest temperature and the maximum temperature difference in the battery module at about 47.7°C and 2.5°C, respectively, during 2C discharge process and under the condition of natural air convection to 25°C ambient. The heat pipe is found to be more effective at lowering the battery temperature rise while the PCM tube appears to be more effective at reducing the temperature non-uniformity in the battery module.