Numerical Investigation of fin and turbulator configurations for air-cooled lithium-ion battery thermal management

Effective thermal management of lithium-ion battery packs is crucial for guaranteeing safety, optimal performance, and longevity in applications such as electric vehicles and grid-level energy storage. Most existing thermal management approaches are based on airflow to remove heat from the batteries. These Air-Based Battery Thermal Management Systems (BTMS) usually use fans and simple air channels and have the merits of low costs and easy designs, but the demerits of weak convective heat transfer and non-uniform battery temperatures. This study employed three-dimensional numerical simulations to investigate the thermohydraulic performance of a finned air-cooled battery module with and without turbulators. A battery pack consisting of 15 cylindrical 18,650 lithium-ion cells was modeled, and the effects of the inlet air velocity (2–6 m/s), fin number (two and three fins), and turbulator implementation on the airflow characteristics, temperature distribution, maximum battery temperature, and pressure drop were systematically evaluated. The results demonstrated that increasing the inlet velocity significantly enhanced the heat dissipation and reduced the maximum battery temperature significantly. The addition of turbulators improved airflow mixing, reduced stagnant flow regions, and enhanced temperature uniformity, whereas the extra fin increased the effective heat-transfer area. Among all the configurations, the three-fin design with turbulators achieved the lowest maximum temperature and the most uniform temperature field. Although the pressure drop increased with the inlet velocity, the hydraulic penalty associated with the turbulators was minimal. In conclusion, the investigation revealed the three-fin configuration with turbulators operating at 4–5 m/s as the optimum design, delivering an optimal balance between the cooling performance and flow resistance.