Novel design optimization for passive cooling PCM assisted battery thermal management system in electric vehicles

Abstract

Recently, the phase change material (PCM) battery thermal management system (BTMS) attracted attention. However, enhancement and optimization for the BTMS are required due to volumetric system design and low thermal conductivity. This study provides a novel design optimization to improve the environmental aspect of the cooling system and reduce its weight. Jute fibers as a planet-system, available, cheap, and weightless material is combined with the PCM battery thermal management based. The thermal behavior of large lithium-ion batteries (LIB) under different load protocols including fast discharge, periodic load, and real drive cycle are investigated. The results with the periodic load profile confirm that the maximum temperature for the cooling strategies of no-cooling, PCM cooling and PCM with jute reaches 39.22 °C, 38.22 °C and 35.09 °C, respectively. Moreover, applying aggressive high constant discharge current leads to further reduction in maximum temperature, where the maximum temperature reaches 47.27 °C, 41.06 °C, and 36.29 °C with the no-cooling, PCM cooling and PCM with jute cooling strategies, respectively. This article represents the first attempt to use a combination of jute and PCM in order to maximize temperature efficiency enhanced. Thus, this research contributes to further design optimization in battery thermal management system simplicity, environmental friendliness, energy and weight saving.

Keywords

• Jute
• Thermal management
• Passive cooling
• Phase change material PCM
• Lithium-ion battery
• Electric vehicles