Computational investigations of battery thermal management system with environmental effects employing a combination of phase change materials and forced air cooling

Abstract

The thermal management system of battery pack was investigated based on the combination of two different phase change materials OM35 and Paraffin wax coupled with forced air cooling to maintain the thermal distribution in the battery pack at a discharge rate of 1C. Numerical investigations were carried out by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to understand the effects of battery thermal characteristics on environmental conditions in different cities of India. Furthermore, the thermal behavior of the system in an active and passive cooling was analyzed. The result indicates that active cooling can reduce the temperature rise in the battery pack by 2.8°C in the discharge cycle. The above studies identified active cooling not always required when the vehicle speed increases above 40 km/h. Environmental conditions during summer have a significant impact on the temperature rise in the battery pack.