Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis of Thermal Management of a Li-Ion Battery Pack

Thermal management of Li-ion battery packs is a critical technological challenge that directly impacts safety and performance. Removal of heat generated in individual Li-ion cells into the ambient is a considerably complicated problem involving multiple heat transfer modes. This paper develops an iterative analytical technique to model conjugate heat transfer in coolant-based thermal management of a Li-ion battery pack. Solutions for the governing energy conservation equations for thermal conduction and convection are derived and coupled with each other in an iterative fashion to determine the final temperature distribution. The analytical model is used to investigate the dependence of the temperature field on various geometrical and material parameters. This work shows that the coolant flowrate required for effective cooling can be reduced significantly by improving the thermal conductivity of individual Li-ion cells. Further, this work helps understand key thermal-electrochemical trade-offs in the design of thermal management for Li-ion battery packs, such as the trade-off between temperature rise and energy storage density in the battery pack.