An optimal design concept of air-cooled battery pack has been proposed. The cooling strategy to improve battery temperature uniformity has been studied. This paper describes a cooling strategy development method for an air cooled battery pack with lithium-ion pouch cells used in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).
Analytical DOE studies are performed to examine the effects of cooling strategies including geometries of the cooling duct, cooling channel, cooling plate, and corrugation on battery pack thermal behavior and to identify the design concept of an air cooled battery pack to maximize its durability and its driving range. 1. Introduction
Combining other cooling methods with air cooling, including PCM structures, liquid cooling, HVAC systems, heat pipes etc., an air-cooling system with these advanced enhancements should provide adequate cooling for new energy vehicles’ high-energy battery packs.
Accordingly, a cooling system is typically employed with the battery cells in the battery pack. A typical air cooled battery pack includes single or multiple strings of battery cells, a plurality of spaced apart battery cooling plates, cooling ducts, and control modules.
Passive air cooling involves air flowing from the outside to the inside of the battery pack, cooling the batteries because of the relative motion. As the vehicle moves, heat from the battery pack is removed by the air when passing through the gap in the battery pack and then vented from the opposite side.
When air is used for cooling of battery modules arranged in series, the middle and rear portion of batteries are at high temperature to the low heat capacity of air. The temperature of the battery pack near the outlet is very high and the temperature distribution is highly non-uniform.