Numerical analysis of battery thermal management system coupling with low-thermal-conductive phase change material and liquid cooling

Mitigating thermal runaway propagation of batteries by applying thermal barrier to block heat transfer will inevitably weaken heat dissipation. Low-thermal-conductive phase change material (LTC-PCM) is a promising candidate of thermal barrier because of its high latent heat. While limited research is found related to how much effect does thermal barrier on performance of battery thermal management system (BTMS), especially when liquid cooling is applied. The present work compares BTMS performance of prismatic battery module with LTCPCM, low-thermal-conductive material (LTCM), and high-thermal-conductive pad (HTCP), also further investigates BTMS performance with different width of LTC-PCM and flow rate of heat transfer fluid (HTF). The results indicate average battery temperature (Tave) in modules with the three materials follows the sequence: LTC-PCM < HTCP < LCTM. The maximum Tave difference among the materials when module is discharged at 2C rate is 1.8585 degrees C without flowing HTF, and minimized to 0.6443 degrees C with HTF flow rate of 3 L/min. Differences of temperature uniformity of module with the three material is very slight, both with and without flowing HTF. Increasing width of LTC-PCM by per millimeter reduces Tave by 1.11 degrees C at 2C discharge process, but the influence becomes very small when flowing HTF is applied.

Automated summary

Research compares the performance of BTMS in battery modules using LTC-PCM, LTCM, and HTCP. It further investigates the impact of different widths of LTC-PCM and flow rates of HTF. Results show that increasing LTC-PCM width reduces Tave, but the influence becomes minimal with flowing HTF.