Enhancing battery thermal management via structural modifications of cooling system: numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis

The rapid expansion of renewable energy systems and electric vehicles has increased demand for batteries. Effective thermal management is essential because of the significant effect of temperature on the lifespan, performance, and safety of batteries. This study aimed to enhance the cooling performance of a battery thermal management system through targeted structural modifications of the cooling system. A series of design configurations were evaluated and analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to improve heat transfer and reduce the maximum temperature within a battery stack. The proposed modifications were developed based on a detailed analysis of the flow field and the identification of nonuniformities in the temperature of the preceding designs. It was found that the use of a deep notch combined with filleted branches of cooling systems for proper directing of the fluid flow provided the best case among the evaluated configurations. The results of the study revealed that the temperature uniformity of the battery stack reduces from 7.45×10−3 in the reference case to 3.86×10−3 in the optimal case. Furthermore, maximum temperature of the battery was reduced by 2.76°C in the optimal case in comparison with the reference case. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the impact of coolant inlet temperature and velocity on the maximum temperature of the stack, and it was observed that the effect of inlet temperature was more significant. According to the obtained results, it is concluded that a systematic structural modification of the thermal management unit can significantly enhance the cooling performance without increasing the complexity of the system.