Investigation on the effects of temperature equilibrium strategy in battery thermal management using phase change material

The uniformity of temperature distribution is the key factor in heat transfer rate of battery thermal management. In this paper, the battery thermal management using phase change material based on temperature equilibrium strategy have been proposed, in order to get the temperature distribution of battery more uniform. The effects of equilibrium strategy and Rayleigh number are studied. When the Rayleigh numbers are 2.9 x 10(4), 1.2 x 10(5), 1.1 x 10(6), and 4.9 x 10(8), the temperature SDs applying the equilibrium strategy are reduced by -1.9%, 1.2%, 32.3%, and 14.4%, respectively. Besides, the corresponding complete melting times are reduced by 0.97%, 1.96%, 4.76%, and 1.58%. The equilibrium factor in equilibrium strategy is considered as well. It is noted that increasing the equilibrium factor is able to get the more uniform temperature distribution, resulting in the faster melting rate. When the equilibrium factors are 1, 4, and 6, the complete melting times are reduced by 1.58%, 50.0%, and 51.4%, respectively, improving the thermal performance of battery thermal management.