Comparative assessment among several channel designs with constant volume for cooling of pouch-type battery module

Liquid cooling is an effective thermal management technique in reducing the peak temperature of lithium-ion batteries. To meet the development of the battery thermal management system's compact design, a liquidbased mini channel cold plate is utilised. Although several researchers proposed numerous designs of mini channels across the cold plate, a comparative assessment among these designs is limited. Therefore, a threedimensional numerical method is introduced to explore the laminar flow of liquid coolant in six distinct mini channel designs. This includes serpentine, U-bend, straight, pumpkin, spiral, and hexagonal designs under a constant channel volume. Their cooling ability is evaluated in terms of pressure drop, temperature variation, a non-dimensional j/f factor, average temperature, uniformity factor, and cooling performance factor for varying mass flow rate and a fixed discharge rate of 3C. Results signify that the serpentine and hexagonal geometries could significantly improve temperature homogeneity, whereas the pumpkin model maintains a lower pressure drop and pumping power. Furthermore, a detailed analysis is conducted with all the channel designs for an ambient temperature and discharge rate varying from 25 degrees C to 45 degrees C and 1C to 5C, respectively. Also, a realistic drive cycle data US06 is utilised to assess the performance of optimal design serpentine channel-based battery module for on-road driving conditions.

Automated summary

The study utilized a three-dimensional numerical method to explore the laminar flow of liquid coolant in six distinct mini channel designs. Results indicate that the serpentine and hexagonal geometries could significantly improve temperature homogeneity, whereas the pumpkin model maintains a lower pressure drop and pumping power.