Natural Convection Boundary Conditions Research Articles

Design of novel thermal management system for Li-ion battery module using metal matrix based passive cooling method

Reliable, efficient and safe energy storage is important for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage of power grid. Lithium-ion battery is preferred as energy storage device due to its higher energy density, low self-discharge and longer cycle life. Lithium-ion cells generate heat during high discharge rates and harsh ambient temperature operation, which raises cell temperature and impacts its performance. Therefore, an efficient thermal management system (TMS) is necessary to alleviate thermal issues during charge/discharge process. A combination of phase change material (PCM) with high conductive plate metal matrix is proposed to eliminate the limitation on the heat transfer characteristics of air-cooled systems. To analyze the thermal and electrochemical behavior of a Lithium-ion cell, a detailed CFD simulation with empirical NTGK electro-chemical model is used. The model is first validated with available experimental data and the analysis is then extended to predict thermal response of individual cell of 3s3p module under natural convection boundary conditions. Poor heat transfer capability associated with natural convection at elevated temperature and discharge rate causes the cell maximum temperature (Tmax) and uniformity (ΔT) to be higher than acceptable values of 45 °C and 3 °C respectively. A thermal management system based on passive cooling using PCM is proposed and analyzed using CFD model by first validating the PCM melting behavior under uniform heating. The model is then extended to analyze the impact of PCM on cell temperature rise at different discharge rates of 8 A - 25 A (≈1C - 3.2C) and various operating temperatures of 25°C to 35°C. Low thermal conductivity of PCM limits heat dissipation which leads to higher temperature gradient. A novel TMS based on plate metal matrix structure enclosing PCM is proposed to enhance heat conduction across PCM and increase heat dissipation to maintain battery module under safe operating temperature limits. This approach has brought down the module maximum temperature to 44.1 °C and temperature difference to 1.6 °C during operation at 25 A (3.2C) and 35 °C. Hence, PCM with high latent heat and low thermal conductivity could be used with high conductivity plate metal matrix to improve cell performance by keeping the cell temperature at required range.

Analysis of Volume Fraction and Convective Heat Transfer on MHD Casson Nanofluid over a Vertical Plate

The numerous industrial and engineering applications of Casson nanofluid is due to the superiority of its thermophysical properties. Tomatoes paste, engine oil, soup etc., are examples of Casson fluid and when nanometer-sized particles are suspended in such Casson fluid, it becomes Casson nanofluid. This paper considers a natural convective magnetohydrodynamics flow of Cu-engine oil nanofluid across a convectively heated vertical plate. The effects of self-heating of the fluid (measured by the Eckert number), internal conductive resistance to external convective resistance (measured by the Biot number), magnetic field strength, volume fraction of the nanoparticles on the temperature and velocity of mass and heat transfer of Casson nanofluid is analysed. An appropriate model governing the flow of Casson nanofluid is formulated as a system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The natural convection boundary condition is included. To solve the problem, an appropriate similarity transformation is used to reformulate the system as a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The shooting technique is used to convert the boundary problem to initial value problems before Runge-Kutta method, with the Gills constants, is used to solve the reformulated problem. The results are depicted as graphs. Flow velocity is found to increase as the base fluid becomes more Casson and as nanoparticle volume fraction increases. It is also found that increasing Eckert number, Biot number and magnetic field strength causes an increase in the flow temperature.

The Influence of Leg Shape on Thermoelectric Performance Under Constant Temperature and Heat Flux Boundary Conditions

Global energy resource consumption is increasing rapidly, and wasted energy (the portion not used for useful services) comprises a significant fraction of the energy consumed. Much of the wasted energy is in the form of heat. Thermoelectric devices offer the potential to convert this wasted heat into electricity, and they can be used for thermal management by pumping heat. The shape of thermoelectric devices, particularly the active semiconducting material units (or thermoelectric legs) within the device, has remained largely unchanged. However, the advent of new manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing enables customizable device shapes. Given these new manufacturing capabilities, exploring atypical, or non-rectangular, leg geometries becomes increasingly relevant. This work focuses on understanding the effect of different thermoelectric leg designs on thermoelectric device performance. Various leg shapes were studied for their thermal and electrical performance under different thermal boundary conditions. The shapes studied include rectangular prisms, rectangular prisms with interior hollows, trapezoids, hourglass, and Y-shapes. Temperature gradients and the electrical potentials of the thermoelectric legs are determined using the COMSOL Multiphysics Thermoelectric Module. Both fixed temperature and fixed heat flux boundary conditions were examined numerically. Among the geometries investigated, the hourglass-shaped thermoelectric leg, subjected to a fixed temperature boundary condition, is found to have the best thermal and electrical performance. The hourglass-shaped leg results in more than double the electrical potential and maximum power compared to the conventional rectangular shape when the cold side experiences a natural convection boundary condition. Under a fixed heat flux boundary condition on the hot side, a trapezoid-shaped leg results in almost double the electrical potential and a 50% increase in the power output compared to the conventional leg shape. Varying boundary conditions, which reflect different device operating conditions, result in different performance values for the same leg shapes. These findings underscore the importance of leg geometry on electrical and thermal performance of a thermoelectric leg, as well as the importance of considering the device operating condition when selecting the best leg shape.

Study Of Boundary Layer Flow With Natural Convection Boundary Condition

Study Of Boundary Layer Flow With Natural Convection Boundary Condition

Numerical analysis of unsteady heat conduction in regular solid bodies comprising natural convection to nearby fluids

AbstractThe present paper addresses unsteady, unidirectional heat conduction in regular solid bodies (vertical plate, horizontal cylinder, and sphere) that exchange heat by natural convection with a neighboring fluid. From thermal physics, natural convection constitutes a worst‐case scenario for forced convection cooling. Under the premises of natural convection heat transfer, the unsteady, 1‐dimensional heat conduction equation consists in a linear parabolic partial differential equation with a dominant natural convection boundary condition represented by the mean convective coefficient that depends upon temperature. As expected, the nonlinear unsteady, unidirectional heat conduction problem is complex and does not admit an exact, analytical solution. Instead, the nonlinear unsteady, unidirectional heat conduction problem forcibly necessitates approximate numerical treatment with the finite difference method. The computed dimensionless center, surface, and mean temperatures varying with dimensionless time are obtained numerically and are graphed for 3 solids: iron, aluminum, copper exposed to 3 fluids: air, water, oil; the 6 media are used in numerous engineering applications.

터빈 시뮬레이터용 틸팅패드 저널베어링의 열윤활 해석 및 패드 온도 측정

Tilting pad journal bearings(TPJBs) are widely used for high speed rotating machinery owing to their rotordynamic stability and thermal management feature. With increase in the rotating speed of such machinery, an increasingly important aspect of TPJB design is the prediction of their thermal behaviors. Researchers have conducted detailed investigations in the last two decades, which provided design tools for the TPJBs. Based on these previous studies, this paper presents a thermohydrodynamic(THD) analysis model for TPJBs. To calculate pressure distribution, we solve the generalized Reynolds equation and to predict the lubricant temperature, we solve the 3D energy equation. We employ the oil mixing theory to calculate pad inlet temperature; further, to consider heat conduction via the pad, we solve the heat conduction equation for the pads. We assume the shaft temperature as the averaged oil film temperature and apply natural convection boundary conditions to the pad side and back surfaces. To validate the analysis model, we compare the predicted pad temperatures with those from previous research. The results show good agreement with previous research. In addition, we conduct parametric studies on a TPJB which was used in a gas turbine simulator system. The predicted results show that film temperature largely depends on the rotating speed and oil supply condition.

Modeling heat and moisture transport in steam-cured mortar: Application to AASHTO Type VI beams

During steam curing of concrete, temperature and moisture gradients are developed, which are difficult to measure experimentally and can adversely affect the durability of concrete. In this research, a model of cement hydration coupled to moisture and heat transport was used to simulate the process of steam curing of mortars with water-to-cement (w/c) ratios by mass of 0.30 and 0.45, considering natural convection boundary conditions in mortar and concrete specimens of AASHTO Type VI beams. The primary variables of the model were moisture content, temperature, and degree of hydration. Moisture content profiles of mortar specimens (40mm in diameter and 50mm in height) were measured by magnetic resonance imaging. The degree of hydration was obtained by mass-based measurements of loss on ignition to 1000°C. The results indicate that the model correctly simulates the moisture distribution and degree of hydration in mortar specimens. Application of the model to the steam curing of an AASHTO Type VI beam indicates temperature differences (between the surface and the center) higher than 20°C during the cooling stage, and internal temperatures higher than 70°C that may compromise the durability of the concrete.

Modeling of the Transport Phenomena in Passive Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Using a Two-Phase Anisotropic Model

The transport phenomena in a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) were numerically simulated by the proposed two-dimensional two-phase nonisothermal mass transport model. The anisotropic transport characteristic and deformation of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) were considered in this model. The natural convection boundary conditions were adopted for the transport of methanol, oxygen, and heat at the GDL outer surface. The effect of methanol concentration in the reservoir on cell performance was examined. The distribution of multiphysical fields in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), especially in the catalyst layers (CLs), was obtained and analyzed. The results indicated that transport resistance for the methanol mainly existed in the MEA while that for oxygen and heat was primarily due to natural convection at the GDL outer surface. Because of the relatively high methanol concentration, the local reaction rate in CLs was mainly determined by the overpotential. Methanol concentration between 3 M and 4 M was recommended for passive liquid feed DMFC in order to achieve a balance between the cell performance and the methanol crossover.

Investigation of the natural convection boundary condition in microfabricated structures

Heat loss through surrounding air has an important thermal effect on microfabricated structures. This effect is generally modeled as a natural convection boundary condition. However, the correct procedure for the determination of the convective coefficient ( h) at microscales continues to be debated. In this paper, a microheater is fabricated on a suspended thin film membrane. The natural convection on the microheater is investigated using 3-omega measurements and complex analytical modeling. It is found that the value of h that fits experimental data should have an apparently larger value than that at larger scales; however, it is also shown that the increased h is actually contributed by heat conduction instead of heat convection. A method of determining the correct h that can be used for microfabricated structures is proposed by using the heat conduction shape factor.

A finite element analysis of temperature variation in silicon wafers during wiresaw slicing

Temperature variation during slicing can cause undesirable warp and nanotopography on wafer surfaces, especially for large wafers. In this paper, a finite element model is constructed and presented to analyze and synthesize temperature variation of ingot during wiresaw slicing. The heat flux and natural convection boundary condition arising during slicing have been studied and incorporated in the model as well as the material removal. The model is designed to accommodate time-dependent boundary conditions and geometry which are integral to wiresaw slicing process. The results obtained from the model compare very well with the experimental results available in the literature. A method is proposed in order to obtain a relatively flat profile of temperature during slicing in order to reduce warp due to heat generation by intelligent control of boundary conditions. The method is tested using the model developed. The proposed method can be utilized by practitioners in order to obtain wafers with less warp and improved nanotopography due to thermal aspects in slicing using wiresaws.

The effect of model building on the accuracy of fatigue life predictions in electronic packages

Empirical fatigue life models such as the Coffin–Manson rule and its variants are commonly used at the present time to predict the reliability of microelectronic packages. While there have been reports of substantial error in empirical correlations relative to the experiments, this has not been accompanied by a rigorous understanding of the sources of the error. In this paper we systematically explore the various modeling errors in the fatigue life prediction. These errors include those in geometry representation, material behavior, load history and boundary condition application, and in the numerical solution procedure. As part of the study, experimentally validated correlations between temperature cycling and power cycling are developed for a TI 144 chip-scale package. The accuracy of the predicted life under power cycling conditions compared to the experimentally determined life is used as the basis for judging the model accuracy. The criticality of spatial refinement, temporal refinement, and accurate boundary conditions, including the often ignored natural convection boundary conditions, and their effect on predicted life is described in detail. It is shown that model errors can be a significant part of both the constitutive life models and the application models that use the constitutive life models to predict the fatigue life under a given environmental condition. It is also shown that with careful model building, solutions accurate to within 3% can be obtained.

Predictive reliability models through validated correlation between power cycling and thermal cycling accelerated life tests

Aims to show that with careful modelling, the fatigue life of solder joints of identical geometry and microstructure can be predicted very accurately (through empirical correlations) under different environmental test or field use conditions. Here, on the TI 144 chip ‐scale package, the empirical correlation for fatigue life developed under thermal cycling conditions is used to predict the life under power cycling. This accurate model has served as the physical basis which in to demonstrate quantitatively the equivalence of thermal cycling and power cycling as valid accelerated life tests. Describes the great importance of spatial refinement, temporal refinement, and accurate boundary conditions, including the often ignored natural convection boundary conditions, and their effect on predicted life.

Transient conduction in a plate cooled by free convection

An approximate analytical solution of the one-dimensional conduction equation with a natural convection boundary condition is presented. The solution is based on the heat balance integral technique and possesses considerable utility. The accuracy of the solution is tested by comparison with an exact solution for a range of linear forced convection problems and with a Crank-Nicolson solution for a range of nonlinear free convection problems. It is demonstrated that significant differences can occur between the temperature responses of a solid cooled by either free of forced convective flow at similar Biot numbers.