TY - JOUR

T1 - A theoretical and computational study of lithium-ion battery thermal management for electric vehicles using heat pipes

AU - Greco, Angelo

AU - Cao, Dongpu

AU - Jiang, Xi

AU - Yang, Hong

PY - 2014/7

Y1 - 2014/7

N2 - A simplified one-dimensional transient computational model of a prismatic lithium-ion battery cell is developed using thermal circuit approach in conjunction with the thermal model of the heat pipe. The proposed model is compared to an analytical solution based on variable separation as well as three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The three approaches, i.e. the 1D computational model, analytical solution, and 3D CFD simulations, yielded nearly identical results for the thermal behaviours. Therefore the 1D model is considered to be sufficient to predict the temperature distribution of lithium-ion battery thermal management using heat pipes. Moreover, a maximum temperature of 27.6 °C was predicted for the design of the heat pipe setup in a distributed configuration, while a maximum temperature of 51.5 °C was predicted when forced convection was applied to the same configuration. The higher surface contact of the heat pipes allows a better cooling management compared to forced convection cooling. Accordingly, heat pipes can be used to achieve effective thermal management of a battery pack with confined surface areas.

AB - A simplified one-dimensional transient computational model of a prismatic lithium-ion battery cell is developed using thermal circuit approach in conjunction with the thermal model of the heat pipe. The proposed model is compared to an analytical solution based on variable separation as well as three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The three approaches, i.e. the 1D computational model, analytical solution, and 3D CFD simulations, yielded nearly identical results for the thermal behaviours. Therefore the 1D model is considered to be sufficient to predict the temperature distribution of lithium-ion battery thermal management using heat pipes. Moreover, a maximum temperature of 27.6 °C was predicted for the design of the heat pipe setup in a distributed configuration, while a maximum temperature of 51.5 °C was predicted when forced convection was applied to the same configuration. The higher surface contact of the heat pipes allows a better cooling management compared to forced convection cooling. Accordingly, heat pipes can be used to achieve effective thermal management of a battery pack with confined surface areas.

KW - Battery thermal management

KW - Heat pipe

KW - Li-ion battery

KW - Passive cooling management

KW - Thermal network model

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.02.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.02.004

M3 - Journal article

VL - 257

SP - 344

EP - 355

JO - Journal of Power Sources

JF - Journal of Power Sources

ER -