Volume 3: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part II

Comparative Study on Cooling Schemes of Lithium-ion Battery Packs for Electric Vehicles Shan Ji, Shixue Wang*, Kaixiang Li

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles have shorter life and lower safety in high-temperature environment, and battery packs need to be cooled to ensure that they operate in a suitable temperature range. In this study, two different cooling schemes were compared. With the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference of a battery pack as indices, the thermal characteristics of the battery pack at a high discharge rate were studied by conducting a CFD simulation under fin forced convection cooling and composite cooling (fin and phase change material). The results showed that the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference of the battery pack at high discharge rates can be significantly reduced under fin forced convection cooling (at low air flow rates) and composite cooling. Under the composite cooling, the system is simpler, and the uniformity between the batteries is better.

Keywords lithium-ion battery pack, thermal management, fin, phase change, forced convection