Research on heat dissipation performance and flow characteristics of air‐cooled battery pack

With the depletion of fossil fuels and the aggravation of environmental pollution, the research and development speed of electric vehicles has been accelerating, and the thermal management of battery pack has become increasingly important. This paper selects the electric vehicle battery pack with natural air cooling as the study subject, conducts simulation analysis of the heat dissipation performance of battery packs with and without vents. Then this paper researches on the influence of internal flow field and external flow field. Field synergy principle is used to analyze the effect of velocity field and temperature field amplitude. The results show the following: it is found that the maximum temperature rise and the internal maximum temperature difference of the battery pack with vents are reduced by about 23.1% and 19.9%, raising speed value can improve the heat dissipation performance, and raising temperature value can decrease the heat dissipation performance. Reasonable design of the vents can make the inner and outer flow field work synergistically to achieve the best cooling effect. Then the reference basis for the air cooling heat dissipation performance analysis of electric vehicle, battery pack structure arrangement, and air‐inlet and air‐outlet pattern choosing are offered.     

Analysis of Heat Dissipation Performance between a Horizontal and Longitudinal Battery Pack Based on Forced Air Cooling

A battery pack is the main energy storage element, and directly affects the performance of an electric vehicle. Battery thermal management system research and its development for a modern electric vehicle is required. This paper selects the forced air cooling of battery pack as the research object, and uses simulation methods to research the heat dissipation performance with different structures of battery packs. The results indicate that according to the four types of transient state conditions, the rising temperature of both battery packs are significantly higher than the temperature difference, the maximum temperature rise and temperature difference of a horizontal battery pack are lower than a longitudinal battery pack. When an electric vehicle begins to decrease speed, the curves of temperature rising and temperature difference increase. This shows the internal heat is continuously rising, so even in a electric vehicle beginning to decrease speed, the fan must work. The reference basis for choosing battery pack type and an analysis of heat flow field characteristics, including fan run‐time control, are offered.     

Heat dissipation analysis and optimization of the pure electric bus lithium-ion battery pack based on CFD

针对某纯电动客车电池箱散热效果不佳的问题,本文基于CFD技术以该车的电池箱散热系统为研究对象,建立了估算锂离子电池生热速率数学模型,采用三维软件UG建立电池箱的几何模型,并利用软件Star-ccm+对该模型的速度场和温度场进行仿真和分析。通过添加导流板等措施,对电池箱的结构进行了优化改进,并进行了正交仿真实验,确定了电池箱导流散热的最优方案,结果表明,导流板能够降低电池箱内单体电池的最高温度,使电池组温度分布更加均匀。     

Field synergy equation for turbulent heat transfer and its application

A field synergy equation with a set of specified constraints for turbulent heat transfer developed based on the extremum entransy dissipation principle can be used to increase the field synergy between the time-averaged velocity and time-averaged temperature gradient fields over the entire fluid flow domain to optimize the heat transfer in turbulent flow. The solution of the field synergy equation gives the optimal flow field having the best field synergy for a given decrement of the mean kinetic energy, which maximizes the heat transfer. As an example, the field synergy analysis for turbulent heat transfer between parallel plates is presented. The analysis shows that a velocity field with small eddies near the boundary effectively enhances the heat transfer in turbulent flow especially when the eddy height which are perpendicular to the primary flow direction, are about half of the turbulent flow transition layer thickness. With the guide of this optimal velocity field, appropriate internal fins can be attached to the parallel plates to produce a velocity field close to the optimal one, so as to increase the field synergy and optimize the turbulent heat transfer.     

Forced air cooling for CPU modules with high heat dissipation

We describe forced air cooling, based on two new concepts, for CPU modules with high heat dissipation. The first concept is a slit jet flow system, and the second is an impingement duct flow system. These systems are designed for electronic equipment with multiple circuit boards (CPU modules), on which the CPUs have high heat dissipation and the SRAMs have low heat dissipation, loaded in three dimensions and in parallel. The slit jet flow system is very simple compared with the impingement jet flow system, which has a complicated comb‐style impingement jet. The slit jet system includes an air duct with slit orifices and an axial fan upstream from the circuit boards. The impingement duct system consists of an air duct and a heat sink with a fan, which is attached to the CPU. This system also has slit orifices and an axial fan upstream or downstream from the circuit boards. For electronic equipment with each of these flow systems installed, the increases in external thermal resistance for the CPU and SRAMs were measured after stopping one of the cooling fans or the CPU's micro cooling fan. The results showed that the slit jet and impingement duct flow systems provide good cooling performance and redundancy. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(3): 226–236, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10031     

Experimental investigation on thermal performance of silica cooling plate‐aluminate thermal plate‐coupled forced convection‐based pouch battery thermal management system

The power battery as an indispensable part of electric vehicle has attracted much attention in recent years. Among these, the lithium‐ion battery is the most important option due to the high energy density, good stability, and low discharge rate. However, the thermal safety problem of lithium‐ion battery cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is very necessary to explore an effective thermal management system for battery module. Here, a thermal silica cooling plate‐aluminate thermal plate (SCP‐ATP) coupling with forced convection air cooling system as a thermal management system is proposed for improving the cooling performance of pouch battery module. The results reveal that the heat dissipating performance and temperature uniformity of pouch battery module with SCP‐ATP are greatly improved compared with other thermal management systems. Moreover, the highest temperature can be controlled below 50°C, and the temperature differences can be maintained with 3°C when the SCP‐ATP coupling forced convection is utilized to enhance the heat transfer coefficient. Furthermore, considering the cooling effectiveness and consumption cost comprehensively, the optimal air velocity of the SCP‐ATP coupling forced convection cooling system is 9 m/s. In addition, the SCP‐ATP filling with different proportions of acetone has also been investigated for pouch battery module, indicating that 50% acetone exhibited a better heat transfer effect than the 30% one. Therefore, this research would provide a significant value in the design and optimization of thermal management systems for battery module.     

Two energy conservation principles in convective heat transfer optimization

Improving heat transfer performance is very beneficial to energy conservation because heat transfer processes widely existed in energy utilization systems. In this contribution, in order to effectively optimize convective heat transfer, such two principles as the field synergy principle and the entransy dissipation extremum principle are investigated to reveal the physical nature of the entransy dissipation and its intrinsic relationship with the field synergy degree. We first established the variational relations of the entransy dissipation and the field synergy degree with the heat transfer performance, and then derived the optimization equation of the field synergy principle and made comparison with that of the entransy dissipation extremum principle. Finally the theoretical analysis is then validated by the optimization results in both a fin-and-flat tube heat exchanger and a foursquare cavity. The results show that, for prescribed temperature boundary conditions, the above two optimization principles both aim at maximizing the total heat flow rate and their optimization equations can effectively obtain the best flow pattern. However, for given heat flux boundary conditions, only the optimization equation based on the entransy dissipation extremum principle intends to minimize the heat transfer temperature difference and could get the optimal velocity and temperature fields.     

圆柱形锂离子电池热管理实验研究

保持合适的运行温度是锂离子电池高效、安全、长寿命的保证,因而对其进行有效的热管理是非常有必要的。本文针对圆柱形锂离子电池,设计了嵌套电池表面的方形金属外壳,以强化电池散热和单体电池间传热。对比自然对流条件下电池单体加壳和无壳时不同放电倍率的温升情况、多个电池并联的温升情况,以及不同通风功率下多个电池并联时嵌套不同外壳的温升情况,发现加壳可以有效促进电池（组）散热。另外,设计了电池组内不同单体电池出现放电不均衡情况,以检验嵌套外壳对减小电池组内单体电池间温差的效果,结果表明,自然对流条件下,加壳后单体电池间最大温差可以降低10℃以上。     

防爆电池箱的相变散热分析

电动汽车电池在充放电过程中,会放出大量的热。防爆电动车上的防爆电池箱由于密闭性和防爆性,风冷和水冷散热模式会带来潜在风险,相变散热模式适应防爆性的要求,需要探索其可行性。通过对电池箱的相变散热进行设计和流动散热FLUENT仿真分析,发现了相变散热的局域不均匀性。针对问题导向,提出了利用相变材料对电池箱内部及外壁进行散热,仿真结果表明此方法达到了降低电池温度以及改善了其温度不均匀等问题。     

Field synergy optimization and enhanced heat transfer by multi-longitudinal vortexes flow in tube

The field synergy equation for steady laminar convection heat transfer was derived by conditional variation calculus based on the least dissipation of heat transport potential capacity. The optimum velocity field with the best heat transfer performance and least flow resistance increase can be obtained by solving the synergy equation. The numerical simulation of laminar convection heat transfer in a straight circular tube shows that the multi-longitudinal vortex flow in the tube is the flow pattern that enhances the heat transfer enormously. Based on this result, a novel enhanced heat transfer tube, the discrete double-inclined ribs tube (DDIR-tube), is developed. The flow field of the DDIR-tube is similar to the optimal velocity field. The experimental results show that the DDIR-tube has better comprehensive heat transfer performance than the current heat transfer enhancement tubes. The present work indicates that new heat transfer enhancement techniques could be developed according to the optimum velocity field.     

侧风条件下带消能导流装置的直接空冷岛冬季冻结风险模拟研究

哈密某电厂在其空冷岛中使用了一种新型消能导流装置来抵抗侧风影响、稳定机组背压。然而,该电厂冬季空冷单元散热管束冻结的情况依然存在。为了探究该装置对空冷岛冬季防冻的影响,利用Fluent软件对该电厂冬季大风时空冷岛的流动传热特性及各空冷单元的冻结风险进行了模拟研究。研究表明：空冷岛“消能导流装置”整体上对空冷单元的防冻起负面作用;在冬季大风条件下该装置迎风侧空冷单元的散热量平均超出警戒值27%以上,最高达到50%;消能导流装置主要通过提升轴流风机空气流速来增加对应空冷单元的换热量,该装置迎风侧空冷单元轴流风机的轴向空气流速甚至能达到与环境侧风相同的水平,这导致对应空冷单元换热量激增,更容易出现冻结事故;大风条件下该装置在空冷岛下方形成的高压区域分布并不均匀,临近主厂房与相邻空冷岛一侧的高压区域压力更高、面积更大,这些区域空冷单元的冻结风险更高。     

Field synergy analysis and optimization of decontamination ventilation designs

The field synergy principle has been validated to be an effective tool for enhancing convective heat transfer capability. Since convective mass transfer is analogous to convective heat transfer, the field synergy principle has been extended to convective mass transfer analyses to enhance the overall decontamination rate of indoor ventilation systems. According to the field synergy principle, the overall decontamination capability and the utilization efficiency of the air are both influenced by the synergy between the velocity vectors and the contaminant concentration gradients. Furthermore, in order to derive a method to improve the synergy based on the essence of convective mass transfer, the mass transfer potential capacity dissipation function is defined, and then the convective mass transfer field synergy equation is obtained by seeking the extremum of the mass transfer potential capacity dissipation function for a set of specified constraints. The convective mass transfer field synergy equation can be solved to find the optimized air velocity distribution to increase the field synergy and the overall decontamination capability. The optimized air velocity field provides guidance for optimizing ventilation system designs.     

新能源汽车动力电池冷却系统热仿真及优化

动力电池的温度控制是新能源汽车发展中的一个难题,而电池冷却系统在动力电池的温度控制过程中起着相当重要的作用。利用Solidworks软件对电池包进行建模,利用ICEM CFD软件对电池包模型进行网格划分等前处理。利用Fluent软件并采用控制变量法分别对冷却管道截面宽度、冷却液质量流量和冷却液进口温度等3个对电池包散热性能影响较大的参数进行仿真计算和对比分析。根据仿真结果选择可优化电池包散热性能的参数,并在原方案基础上提出了一种新的冷却管道分布方案。经过仿真计算发现,该方案可有效降低电池在使用过程中的最高温度和温差,提高了电池冷却系统的散热性能。     

An alternative cooling system to enhance the safety of Li-ion battery packs

A passive thermal management system is evaluated for high-power Li-ion packs under stressful or abusive conditions, and compared with a purely air-cooling mode under normal and abuse conditions. A compact and properly designed passive thermal management system utilizing phase change material (PCM) provides faster heat dissipation than active cooling during high pulse power discharges while preserving sufficiently uniform cell temperature to ensure the desirable cycle life for the pack. This study investigates how passive cooling with PCM contributes to preventing the propagation of thermal runaway in a single cell or adjacent cells due to a cell catastrophic failure. Its effectiveness is compared with that of active cooling by forced air flow or natural convection using the same compact module and pack configuration corresponding to the PCM matrix technology. The effects of nickel tabs and spacing between the cells were also studied.     

Numerical study of convective heat transfer to supercritical water in rectangular ducts

Numerical investigation has been performed to analyze forced convective heat transfer to supercritical water in horizontal rectangular ducts. Convective heat transfer near the critical region in the rectangular ducts is strongly influenced by large variations of thermodynamic and transport properties of supercritical fluid with gravity force, especially close to pseudocritical temperature. Fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics such as velocity, temperature, and local heat transfer coefficient with water properties distribution in the ducts are presented. Flow accelerates along the horizontal ducts because of decreased water density from heat transfer at the duct walls. Center of large flow recirculation in the duct section locates near the middle of vertical surface and additional secondary recirculation in clockwise direction appears with the increase of duct height. Local wall temperature severely varies along the inner surface of the duct section and its variation depends on aspect ratio of the duct. The heat transfer coefficient distributions along the ducts for various aspect ratios are compared with the proximity effect to the critical pressure.     

Exploring the heat transfer performance of nanofluid as a coolant for power battery pack

Nanofluids with high thermal conductivity coefficient are introduced to the thermal management system of power battery packs for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. Two typical cooling structures of cylindrical and square battery packs are described, and their flow models are established. By similarity transformations, the nonlinear system of partial differential equations is reduced and then solved numerically by the shooting method. The heat transfer properties of three types of nanofluids, that is, CuO‐EG, Al₂O₃‐EG, TiO₂‐EG, are analyzed in detail. It is found that CuO‐EG nanofluid is the best coolant for the cylindrical battery pack, whereas Al₂O₃‐EG nanofluid is the best choice for square battery pack cooling.     

Thermo-Hydraulic Performance Evaluation,Field Synergy,and Entransy Dissipation Analysis for Hexagon-Like and Circular-Like Pin Finned Tube Bundles

In this paper, a comprehensive thermo-hydraulic performance evaluation for air flow across the hexagon-like and circular-like staggered pin finned tube bundle heat transfer surfaces has been numerically carried out by adopting the performance evaluation plot of enhanced heat transfer techniques oriented for energy-saving. In addition, the simulation results have also been analyzed from the viewpoints of field synergy principle and entransy dissipation extreme principle. The results indicate that the heat transfers are all enhanced based on identical pressure drop for the hexagon-like and circular-like pin finned tube bundles within the inlet velocity range from 1 m/s to 10 m/s studied. Moreover, the circular-like pin finned tube bundle offers the lowest friction factor increase ratio for the same Nusselt number increase ratio. Furthermore, the synergy between velocity and fluid temperature gradient has been proved again, having inherent consistency with the dissipation of entransy.     

Heat dissipation design for lithium-ion batteries

A two-dimensional, transient heat-transfer model for different methods of heat dissipation is used to simulate the temperature distribution in lithium-ion batteries. The experimental and simulation results show that cooling by natural convection is not an effective means for removing heat from the battery system. It is found that forced convection cooling can mitigate temperature rise in the battery. Nevertheless, a non-uniform distribution of temperature on the surface of the battery is inevitable and this makes thermal management difficult.As a better means of suppressing increases in temperature, a heat pipe has been used to effect heat dissipation. The connection between the heat pipe and the battery wall pays an important role in heat dissipation. Inserting the heat pipe in to an aluminum fin appears to be suitable for reducing the rise in temperature and maintaining a uniform temperature distribution on the surface of the battery.     

Experimental verification of the field synergy principle

In this paper, the basic idea of the field synergy principle (FSP) is briefly reviewed and is validated experimentally by incompressible flow through a square duct with an imposed temperature difference between vertical walls and perfectly insulated on the horizontal walls. This creates a situation where the steamwise flow velocity is normal to the cross section temperature gradient. The experimental results show the independency of crosswise heat transfer rate on the steamwise flow velocity. Detailed discussion is provided to account for some minor deviation from the expected results of FSP.     

锂离子电池热管理技术

电动汽车在应对气候变化和减少碳排放方面显示出了巨大潜力,电池作为电动汽车的动力来源,在性能和安全方面受温度影响很大。一套有效的热管理控制系统能使电池组温度保持在最佳工作范围内,提高整车的续驶里程。主要总结了目前对电池进行散热和保温的主流电池热管理技术——风冷、液冷、相变冷却、热管冷却以及电池加热技术。提出电池热管理技术应往智能化、集成化、与机器学习相结合、能够自适应调节电池生态温度的方向发展,将会有很大的研究空间。