Numerical analysis of different fin structures in phase change material module for battery thermal management system and its optimization

Abstract

Abstract A cooling technology like phase change material has been recognised as a promising approach due to its sustainable life span and high latent heat without any need of pumping power like in the air or liquid cooling. It can be made in passive or semi-passive mode, owing to which it is compact, lightweight, efficient and safe. However, it usually suffers from heat accumulation in PCM due to its low heat conduction, for this insertion of fin structure in the PCM module could be an alternative. In this study, the thermal performance of the battery module has been numerically investigated by adopting a phase change cooling technique. Firstly, the performance of the battery module is tested with and without PCM using three different current rates, 1C, 2C and 3C. Then the application fin structure in the PCM module is tested using various fin shapes (likes rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, I-shape and T-shape) and increasing fin number for heat transfer enhancement. Additionally, convection effects at the outer shell of the PCM module is also been explored. Finally, an optimized PCM module is proposed based on above, and compared with the PCM module. Results demonstrate that optimized PCM module show superior performance over the PCM module. This optimized module not only improves conduction heat transfer in PCM but also convection heat transfer at the outer shell. It is found that battery temperature is reduced by 2.38% and 9.28% at 2C and 3C current rates respectively.