Progress in minichannel-based thermal management of lithium-ion batteries

There has been a strategic shift in the transportation industry from internal combustion engines to either part or full electrification through the employment of batteries. For the demand of portable, high energy density, and rechargeable batteries that can exhibit safe operations, lithium-ion batteries have emerged as one of the most promising candidates in recent times. There have been many concepts explored as a part of battery thermal management systems where minichannel-based cooling concepts have received considerable attention recently. Single-phase, phase-change slurry, or emulsion-cooled minichannels are effective in keeping the maximum temperature of the battery within permissible limits and ensuring temperature uniformity. The number of channels, inlet flow temperature, flow direction, channel shape, phase change temperature of phase-change slurries/emulsions, and mass flow rate play a critical role in determining the overall performance of the system. Many novel minichannel configurations provide promising results as proof-of-concept but the experimental data related to these minichannel cold plates is still scarce. The major challenge in thermal modeling is the accurate prediction of the heat generation in a battery. The incorporation of phase-change materials in minichannel cooling being explored lately has been reported to yield satisfactory results only for an appropriate combination of mass flow rate, inlet temperature, and phase-change temperature. Also, minichannel cooling through boiling is a promising concept that is not yet actively studied and could be explored for its application in battery thermal management systems in the future.