Numerical analyses on optimizing a heat pipe thermal management system for lithium-ion batteries during fast charging

Thermal management is crucial for the operation of electric vehicles because lithium ion batteries are vulnerable to excessive heat generation during fast charging or other severe scenarios. In this work, an optimized heat pipe thermal management system (HPTMS) is proposed for fast charging lithium ion battery cell/pack. A numerical model is developed and comprehensively validated with experimental results. This model is then employed to investigate the thermal performance of the HPTMS under steady state and transient conditions. It is found that a cylinder vortex generator placed in front of the heat pipe condensers in the coolant stream improves the temperature uniformity. The uses of cooper heat spreaders and cooling fins greatly improve the performance of the thermal management system. Experiments and transient simulations of heat pipe thermal management system integrated with batteries prove that the improved HPTMS is capable for thermal management of batteries during fast charging. The air-cooled HPTMS is infeasible for thermal management of batteries during fast charging at the pack level due to the limitation of low specific heat capacity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.