Coupled prediction model of liquid-cooling based thermal management system for cylindrical lithium-ion module

In this paper, a micro-channel liquid cooling battery thermal management system (BTMS) of electric vehicle (EV) battery module was studied. A computational model for coupled heat transfer from electrochemical-thermal prediction for cell unit to the calculation of the whole battery module was established. The predicted performance of a single battery and a battery module were validated. A Tesla Model S battery module was numerically simulated using the established coupled model. The results showed that the distribution of temperature in the micro channels was quite regular, while the non-uniformity of the temperature in the battery stack was noticeable. These indicated the possibility of improving the heat management for the cell stack by enhancing the mixing of the cooling flow. A modification to improve the cooling by adding baffles in the micro-channels was proposed. Simulation results confirmed the effectiveness of such strategy. Convection heat transfer in the cooling channels was enhanced, while the non-uniformity in the cell stack was reduced. Such modification was at an affordable cost of pressure drop in the cooling system. The mechanism of the flow in the micro-channels for improving the cooling efficiency was analyzed.