Development and analysis of thermal management strategies to improve Lithium-ion battery performance

Abstract

The transportation industry contributes more than a quarter of the global greenhouse gas emissions and transportation electrification was introduced as a means to decarbonize the industry. One of the major challenges related to the electrification of technologies are the thermal challenges associated with Lithium-ion batteries which are the leading candidate for electric batteries. In this research, these thermal challenges have been investigated with the objective of effective cooling and increased thermal uniformity within cylindrical Lithium-ion batteries. To achieve this, novel hybrid thermal management strategies have been proposed that combine air, liquid, and phase change material cooling systems. Several configurations of the proposed strategies are designed and analyzed through both experimental and numerical studies. The proposed hybrid strategies were able to limit the maximum temperature of the battery module to below ~29 °C. The developed battery module also achieved the desired temperature uniformity to less than 5 °C. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid strategies eliminate the requirement of a pump and reservoir system since there is no flow of liquid coolant within the battery module. This reduces the energy required for the operation of the thermal management system, thereby increasing the available energy for propulsion. Therefore, the proposed hybrid strategies and battery modules are capable of maintaining the thermal environment required by the Lithium-ion batteries for effective performance and can also be scaled to an entire battery pack for a range of applications.