Multi-Scale Multi-Field Coupled Analysis of Power Battery Pack Based on Heat Pipe Cooling

• Main Authors: Ye Liu, Tao Jiang, Yanping Zheng, Jie Tian, Zheshu Ma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
• Series: Processes
• Subjects: lithium-ion battery; multi-scale coupled analysis; heat pipe; thermal management system
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/7/10/696

Based on the study of the relationship between micro and macro parameters in the actual microstructure of the electrodes, a new multi-scale multi-field coupling model of battery monomer is established and the heat generation rate of the battery is obtained by detailed numerical simulation. According to the parameters of a certain electric vehicle and battery selected, the structure of the power battery pack and heat pipe cooling system is designed. Through multi-field coupling computational fluid dynamics simulation, the temperature difference of the battery pack is gained. By changing the fin spacing, the cooling scheme of the heat pipe is optimized, which ensures that the temperature difference is less than 5 K and the maximum temperature of the battery system is 306.26 K. It is found that increasing the discharge rate, the temperature difference increases rapidly. Increasing the air inlet velocity can improve the thermal uniformity of the battery pack, but changing the air inlet temperature only determines the range of temperature, it cannot improve the thermal uniformity. The method proposed and results gained can provide a reference for the research of heat management systems with heat pipe of lithium-ion power battery pack for vehicles.