Volume 54

Simulation of thermal management in square battery systems using CPCM/liquid cooling and topology optimization of fins Lin Liu, Jiali Liu, Xinli Lu, Wei Zhang, Dongxi Liu, Shuntao Hu

Abstract

In the present era, electric vehicles are progressively gaining popularity on a global scale. The objective of using a battery thermal management system (BTMS) is to ensure that the power battery pack maintains a controlled temperature range during both charging and discharging processes. This paper aims to enhance the performance of the BTMS by incorporating topologically optimized fins into the composite phase-change material (PCM) and liquid cooling coupling BTMS. Specifically, paraffin with expanded graphite (EG) and foam aluminum nitride as composite phase-change materials were selected. Utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics software, topology optimization was employed to determine the material distribution within the design domain. Subsequently, a 3D model was constructed and the performances of three systems — without fins, with rectangular fins, and with topology-optimized fins — were compared. The results show that after 720 s of discharging at a 5C charge/discharge rate, the average temperature of the battery with the topology optimized fin system is 15.16 °C lower than that of the battery without fins and 1.32 °C lower than that of the battery with rectangular fins. This indicates that the system with topology optimized fins has better heat transfer efficiency

Keywords liquid cooling, topology optimization, electric vehicle, phase-change material