Energy Storage Science and Technology ›› 2022, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (1): 127-135.doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2021.0367

• Energy Storage System and Engineering • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of battery arrangement on the phase change thermal management performance of lithium-ion battery packs

Xiaoguang ZHANG(), Xiaonan PAN, Jinming LI, Li LIU, Yan HE   

  1. Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266100, Shandong, China
  • Received:2021-07-26 Revised:2021-08-11 Online:2022-01-05 Published:2022-01-10
  • Contact: Xiaoguang ZHANG E-mail:xgzhang79@gmail.com

Abstract:

In this study, COMSOL Multiphysics software is used to establish a phase-change cooling-coupled air-cooled lithium battery pack heat dissipation model to explore the influence of single cell arrangement on the thermal management performance of lithium battery packs. The temperature field changes under different cell spacing and phase-change material (PCM) consumptions are simulated. When the single cells are evenly arranged, the maximum temperature difference first decreases and then increases with the spacing increase. The temperature uniformity is the best at 10 mm. Under the same amount of PCM, the cell spacing from the center to the outer edge of the battery pack is reduced in an orderly manner to optimize the battery layout. Compared to those under a uniform arrangement, the maximum temperature and the maximum temperature difference under a non-uniform arrangement increases and decreases, respectively. Consequently, the thermal management performance is improved. The larger the convective heat transfer coefficient of the external air cooling, the better the optimization effect. The amount of PCM is further optimized on the basis of an optimized arrangement. The performed simulation shows that the maximum temperature rise in the battery string is basically unchanged under the optimized arrangement when the amount of PCM is reduced by 12%. The maximum temperature difference is reduced by approximately 34%. These results indicate that the optimization of single battery spacing can improve the thermal management performance of the battery pack and reduce the amount of PCM. The optimized battery pack structure is an effective reference for the thermal management system under the phase-change cooling strategy.

Key words: lithium-ion battery, phase change material, the spacing of single battery, numerical simulation, thermal management

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