Development and analysis of techniques to improve air-cooling and temperature uniformity in battery packs

Abstract

One of the challenges to the advancement of electric vehicles is the requirement of an effective thermal management system to maintain the temperature, and temperature uniformity of the battery pack and the cell within the operating limits. In this study, a novel concept has been developed to improve air-cooling and temperature uniformity in a simple battery pack by incorporating inlet plenum, jet inlets, and vortex generators. The proposed battery pack concept reduced the maximum temperature by about 6%. Furthermore, the temperature difference between the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature exhibited by the battery pack was reduced by 24%. Additionally, up to 37% improvement in the temperature uniformity within a single cell was achieved. Moreover, the new concept developed in this study achieved the desired temperature uniformity at the cell level and the pack level to within 5 ºC.