Numerical Investigation of Thermal Cooling Performance of Prismatic Lithium-Ion Battery Pack for Electric Vehicle

Abstract

At present, the electric vehicles have an increasingly important role in both personal cars and public transportation because of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, that is the main reason of the global warming. The important energy source for all types of electric vehicles is battery. In this paper, the thermal cooling of lithium-ion battery pack with 4 rectangular prismatic battery cells is investigated in flow simulation. The performance of battery convection is simulated within the wind tunnel. The mass flow rate is controlled at 40, 80, and 120 g/s. The temperature distribution of the battery surface and the outlet air is analyzed from three parameters: the battery cell spacing of 5, 10, and 15 mm, the battery cells arrangement in three angles of 0, 60, and 150 from the wind direction, and the discharge rates of 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 C. The results indicate that the battery cells have the lowest surface temperature at 15 mm of the battery cell spacing. The angle of the battery pack placement increases, resulting in the Wake Vortex Turbulence and heat dissipation from the battery cells. It is also suitable to design the battery base for installation. In addition, the mass flow rates and discharge rates are analyzed together. the results show that the surface of battery cells and the outlet air have the highest temperature at the discharge rate of 1.00 C, and the airflow rate of 40 g/s.