Development and analysis of a new tube based cylindrical battery cooling system with liquid to vapor phase change

A new battery cooling system for thermal management is proposed that exploits the high heat transfer rates of boiling using the fuel of hybrid electric vehicles. The new design incorporates fuel boiling within tubes embedded in the aluminum block that house the batteries. One of the advantages of the proposed system is the prevention of direct contact between the fuel and the batteries. The proposed system uses tubes, distributed through the battery pack, which contain stationary boiling fuel. The aluminum conducts the heat away from the batteries to the coolant undergoing phase change in the tubes. The aim of using the aluminum block between the boiling coolant and the batteries is to reduce the temperature through the battery pack and the temperature difference across each battery compared to the direct contact, to lower the amount of vehicle fuel in the battery pack, and to eliminate direct contact between the batteries and the coolant. The performance of the proposed thermal management system is assessed through simulations for 600 s charging and discharging cycles of the rates of 6C and 4C. At a rate of 6C it is found that the proposed system achieves a 1 degrees C higher than the direct contact pool and propane based system in terms of the maximum battery temperature, however it had a similar variation pattern. However, the proposed system achieves a maximum temperature difference of 3.5 degrees C compared to a 10 degrees C difference in the pool and propane based system. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.