Thermal management system for stable EV battery operation with composite phase change materials

Abstract

Li-ion battery has been one of the cornerstone of the mobile era especially given the burst sales of Electrical vehicles (EV) which have eclipsed that of internal combustion engine vehicles over last decade. While extensive advances in smart production and technologies make it booming to the development of EV, there have been frequently reported fatal fire incidents originated from excessive thermal hazards of Li-ion batteries. In this paper, we developed a new Li-ion battery thermal management system, by making use of porous Aluminum structure as skeleton and Phase Change Materials (PCMs) as filler, to maintain its optimal operating temperature below 35 °C within a small tolerance range of ± 1 °C fluctuation by continuous heat absorption and heat release during the phase changes of the PCM. The thermal stress and energy consumption in the internal battery pack caused by temperature fluctuations can thus be reduced, ultimately sustaining the overall functional life span of the battery. We envision that our work will advance the operation of EV battery and incubate a versatile framework ranging from thermal management to battery assembly.