Thermal Management of High Power Lithium Ion Battery Using Heat Pipe and Phase Change Material (PCM)

Abstract

Thermal management system is critical for the electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. This is due to the narrow operating temperature range for lithium ion batteries to achieve a good balance between performance and life. In this study, a novel thermal management strategy was proposed using heat pipe and PCM. The real battery heat release rate was measured by the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC). Different packing methods of PCM and heat pipe were modeled using COMSOL multi-physics software. What is more, the thermal management efficiency of a battery pack using heat pipe and PCM coupling method was investigated. The battery pack was cooled by forced air convection. The effects of cooling section arrangement and inlet air velocity were obtained. The results show that the heat pipe and PCM coupled method was confirmed feasible and effective for fast charging lithium ion battery packs. For the heat pipe and PCM coupling module, the battery-heat pipe-PCM structure is the best placement for the thermal management. The battery temperature can be controlled under 313.23K at a 5.44W/cell heat release rate. The influence of the PCM thickness is more obvious at lower hear transfer rate at heat pipe cooling section. When the heat transfer rate reaches 300W/m2, increasing the PCM thickness leads to little decreasing of battery temperature. As to the battery pack, the increase of the inlet wind speed decreases the battery temperature. Moreover, the staggered arrangement of cooling section is proved to surpass the in-line arrangement.