A novel battery thermal management system using nano-enhanced phase change materials

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 219; p. 119564
• Main Authors: Jilte, Ravindra, Afzal, Asif, Panchal, Satyam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 15-03-2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Ambient temperature; Clean energy; Configurations; Containers; Convection; Convection cooling; Cooling; Cooling systems; Electric cells; Electric vehicles; Free convection; Li-ion battery; Life cycles; Lithium-ion batteries; Management systems; Melting fraction; Multi-shell battery cooling; Nano-enhanced phase change material; Nanoparticles; Phase change materials; Thermal energy; Thermal management; Transient thermal response; Transportation industry; Melting fraction; Multi-shell battery cooling; Li-ion battery; Nano-enhanced phase change material; Transient thermal response
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119564

The production of alternative clean energy vehicles provides a sustainable solution to the transportation sector. An efficient battery cooling system is necessary for safer usage of electric cars during their life cycle. The current work presents a novel modified battery module configuration employing two-layer nanoparticle enhanced phase change materials (nePCM). The design suggests m × n × p arrangement where m denotes the number of Li-ion 18,650 cells, n and p refer to the number of primary containers (filled with nePCM1) and secondary containers (filled with nePCM2). Each Li-ion cell was allowed to discharge at 3C condition for two different configurations: 7 × 7 × 1 and 7 × 1 × 1. The study involves a cooling performance comparison of proposed battery thermal management systems (BTMS) at an ambient temperature ranging from 30 °C to 40 °C with external natural convection conditions. The transient development of heat in batteries and the melting behavior of nePCMs shows better cooling performance for the 7 × 7 × 1 case. BTMS based on 7 × 7 × 1 configuration maintains the cell temperature below 46 °C with combined nePCM and external natural convection cooling even at the hot ambient temperature of 40 °C.