Performance study of Tesla valve-based direct cooling thermal management system for batteries

The thermal management of power batteries in electric vehicles is crucial for ensuring their stability, performance, and safety. This study introduces a novel Tesla valve direct cooling plate for rectangular batteries, aiming to enhance thermal management efficiency. The unique bifurcated structure of the Tesla valve induces fluid perturbation, significantly improving heat exchange and temperature uniformity. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were conducted to compare the performance of the Tesla valve structure with traditional straight and polygonal channels under conditions of a refrigerant evaporation temperature of 14 degrees C, a mass flow rate of 0.6 g/ s, and a battery discharge rate of 2C. Results show that the Tesla valve structure reduces the maximum temperature by 0.76 degrees C and 0.5 degrees C compared to traditional straight and polygonal channels, respectively. Additionally, a comprehensive investigation of cooling plate design parameters-including arrangement location, valve types, valve numbers, channel numbers, and inlet/outlet positions-was performed. Through single-factor analysis and orthogonal experiments, the effects of valve angle, diversion length, valve spacing, and channel spacing were explored, leading to an optimized Tesla valve battery direct cooling plate. Under the same simulation conditions, the optimized design further reduces the maximum temperature by 0.12 degrees C, temperature difference by 0.07 degrees C, and pressure drop by 18.4 Pa. This study advances the application of Tesla valves in battery thermal management and provides a practical and effective solution for maintaining optimal battery temperatures in electric vehicles.