Study on thermal–mechanical coupling of vehicle battery module embedded with double-V cellular structure

Abstract

To further enhance the thermal–mechanical performances of battery module, a novel lithium-ion battery module with double-V cellular structure (DVCS) is proposed. Firstly, the temperature field distributions of battery module are acquired by employing ANSYS/ Fluent simulation analysis software. Subsequently, mechanical properties of the DVCS are acquired and quasi-static compression test is also executed to verify the accuracy of theoretical predictions and emulation analysis. Then, the thermo-mechanical coupling models of DVCS are established, and the optimal geometric parameters of DVCS can be obtained through multi-objective thermal–mechanical coupling optimization method. Based on the above, density gradient of the DVCS can be defined based on the temperature field distribution of battery module. Eventually, in comparisons to battery module with single cooling tube and battery module with the optimal DVCS, the maximum temperature of battery module with density gradient DVCS is 304.97 K at 3C discharge rate, which decreases by 4.51 % and 3.16 %, respectively, the maximum temperature difference of battery module with density gradient DVCS is 4.97 K, which decreases by 74.36 % and 66.71 %, accordingly. As for extrusion conditions, the maximum intrusion displacements of battery module with density gradient DVCS are 0.2295 mm and 0.6518 mm along X and Y directions, separately, which decrease by 94.54 % and 86.87 % compared with those of battery module with single cooling tube. The results indicate that the dissipation efficiency, temperature uniformity and collision performances of battery module with density gradient DVCS can be improved greatly.