Numerical investigation on cooling performance of PCM/cooling plate hybrid system for power battery with variable discharging conditions

To solve the cooling problems of power battery with variable discharging conditions, a hybrid thermal management system combined with phase change materials (PCM) and cooling plate is designed. Moreover, the ANSYS FLUENT is adopted to simulate the three-dimensional model. As a result, the effects of water flow direction and variable discharging conditions are discussed on the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference inside the battery as well as the liquid fraction of PCM. The numerical results indicate that the maximum temperature is governed by the physical parameters of PCM, whereas the water flow direction in the cooling plate plays a dominant role on the maximum temperature difference. Moreover, the flow direction scheme of case 5 is benefit to reduce the maximum temperature and temperature difference simultaneously. Although the cooling performance of hybrid thermal management system can be deteriorated by increasing the pulse duration and heat flux, the melting of PCM dramatically suppresses the increase in maximum temperature and temperature difference. Considering the limited quality of PCM, enhancing the thermal conductivity of PCM and employing cooling scheme with staggered flow direction are recommendable ways to extend the applicability of the hybrid thermal management system for power battery with complex discharging conditions.