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Numerical Improvement of Battery Thermal Management Integrating Phase Change Materials with Fin-Enhanced Liquid Cooling

Author

Listed:
  • Bo Wang

    (School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China)

  • Changzhi Jiao

    (School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China)

  • Shiheng Zhang

    (School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China)

Abstract

Under high-rate charging and discharging conditions, the coupling of phase change materials (PCMs) with liquid cooling proves to be an effective approach for controlling battery pack operating temperature and performance. To address the inherent low thermal conductivity of PCM and enhance heat transfer from PCM to cooling plates, numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of installing fins between the upper and lower cooling plates on temperature distribution. The results demonstrated that merely adding cooling plates on battery surfaces and filling PCM in inter-cell gaps had limited effectiveness in reducing maximum temperatures during 4C discharge (8A discharge current), achieving only a 1.8 K reduction in peak temperature while increasing the maximum temperature difference to over 10 K. Cooling plates incorporating optimized flow channel configurations in fins, alternating coolant inlet/outlet arrangements, appropriate increases in coolant flow rate (0.5 m/s), and reduced coolant inlet temperature (293.15 K) could maintain battery pack temperatures below 306 K while constraining maximum temperature differences to approximately 5 K during 4C discharge. Although increased flow rates enhanced cooling efficiency, improvements became negligible beyond 0.7 m/s due to inherent limitations in battery and PCM thermal conductivity. Excessively low coolant inlet temperatures (293.15 K) were found to adversely affect maximum temperature difference control during initial discharge phases. While reducing the inlet temperature from 300.65 K to 293.15 K decreased the maximum temperature by 10.1 K, it concurrently increased maximum temperature difference by 0.44 K.

Suggested Citation

  • Bo Wang & Changzhi Jiao & Shiheng Zhang, 2025. "Numerical Improvement of Battery Thermal Management Integrating Phase Change Materials with Fin-Enhanced Liquid Cooling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:9:p:2406-:d:1651111
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aneke, Mathew & Wang, Meihong, 2016. "Energy storage technologies and real life applications – A state of the art review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 350-377.
    2. Lin, Xiang-Wei & Li, Yu-Bai & Wu, Wei-Tao & Zhou, Zhi-Fu & Chen, Bin, 2024. "Advances on two-phase heat transfer for lithium-ion battery thermal management," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
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