Numerical Optimization of Battery Heat Management of Electric Vehicles

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Szabolcs Kocsis Szürke - , Széchenyi István University (Author)
  • Gábor Kovács - , Széchenyi István University (Author)
  • Mykola Sysyn - , Chair of Planning and Design of Railway Infrastructure, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Jianxing Liu - , Southwest Jiaotong University (Author)
  • Szabolcs Fischer - , Széchenyi István University (Author)

Abstract

Lithium-ion battery technology in the modern automotive industry utilizes highly temperature-sensitive batteries. Here, air cooling strategies will be the most applicable for the chosen example based on strategies for temperature control. Simulations have been utilized to evaluate the different thermal management strategies. A battery model was developed using the solutions offered by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation technology. It utilizes the heat produced by the discharge of the battery cells. Due to the simulation's limited computational capacity, the energy transfer model was implemented with a simplified but sufficiently complex physical mesh. Ten actual measurements were conducted in the laboratory to investigate the heating of the cell during the charging and discharging of 18650-type batteries. The results were applied to validate the simulation model. The simulation outcomes and thermal camera readings were compared. The cell-level numerical model was then extended to examine the temperature variation at the system level. The primary design objective is to achieve the highest energy density possible, which necessitates that the cells be constructed as closely as possible; however, increasing the distance between the cells can provide superior cooling from a thermal management perspective. The effect of varying the distance between individual cells on the system's heating was analyzed. Greater distance resulted in a more efficient heat transfer. It was also discovered that, in some instances, a small distance between cells produces inferior results compared to when constructed adjacently. A critical distance range has been established based on these simulations, which facilitates the placement of the cells.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1076-1092
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Applied and Computational Mechanics
Volume9
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • battery test, CFD simulation, Lithium-ion battery, thermal management, thermal modeling