Thermal management performances of PCM/water cooling-plate using for lithium-ion battery module based on non-uniform internal heat source

In order to improve the working performance of the lithium-ion battery, the battery module with Phase change material/water cooling-plate was designed and numerically analyzed based on the energy conservation and fluid dynamics. The non-uniform internal heat source based on 2D electro-thermal model for battery LiFePO4/C was used to simulate the heat generation of each battery. Then factors such as height of water cooling-plate, space between adjacent batteries, inlet mass flow rate, flow direction, thermal conductivity and melting point of PCM were discussed to research their influences on the cooling performance of module. And the 5 continuous charge-discharge cycles was used to research the effect of PCM/water cooling plate on preventing thermal runaway. The results showed that the water cooling plate set close to the near-electrode area of battery removed the majority of heat generated during discharging and decreased the maximum temperature efficiently. The PCM between the adjacent batteries could improve the uniformity of temperature field. In addition, the PCM/water cooling plate could limit the maximum temperature effectively and improve the uniformity of temperature field during the 5 continuous charge-discharge cycles. As a result, it prevented the emergence of thermal runaway and increased the safety of module. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.