Experimental study of thermal management system for cylindrical Li-ion battery pack based on nanofluid cooling and copper sheath

• Published in: International journal of thermal sciences Vol. 171; p. 107244
• Main Authors: Sarchami, Amirhosein, Najafi, Mohammad, Imam, Ali, Houshfar, Ehsan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Masson SAS 01-01-2022
• Subjects: Alumina nanoparticle; Copper sheath; Lithium-ion battery; Nanofluid cooling; Thermal management; Copper sheath; Lithium-ion battery; Thermal management; Nanofluid cooling; Alumina nanoparticle
• ISSN: 1290-0729; 1778-4166
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2021.107244

A novel thermal management system including wavy/stair channel liquid cooling and copper sheath is developed and studied experimentally in this investigation to control the temperature of cylindrical lithium-ion batteries. The influences of different variables on cooling performance during charge/discharge operations are investigated: C-rate, alumina nanoparticle concentration, inflow velocity, and stair channel geometry. The experiments are conducted with two volume fractions of 1% and 2%. With increasing the concentration of alumina nanoparticles in the deionized water, the maximum temperature and temperature difference reduced remarkably. Also, the non-uniformity of the temperature is reduced, while an increase in the inflow velocity results in reducing the peak temperature and temperature non-uniformity. Additionally, to control the cooling capacity and temperature distribution inside a battery pack, a new method—liquid cooling lithium-ion battery thermal management system—is developed based on the stair channel cooling. The stair channel reduced the maximum temperature and temperature non-uniformity of the battery pack under 5C discharge process compared to the straight channel by about 3.59 K and 0.65 K, respectively. The results show that these approaches can reduce the maximum temperature and temperature non-uniformity of the battery pack under 5C discharge/charge operations to values lower than 305.13 K and 2.01 K, respectively.
•The liquid-cooled thermal management system combined with copper sheath is proposed.•Al2O3 nanofluid at various volume fractions is directed to the wavy/stair channels.•Maximum temperature of battery pack reduces and temperature uniformity was enhanced.•18650-type Li-ion battery non-uniform degradation & battery cycle life are analysed.