Numerical investigation on thermal management performance of soft packing Li-ion batteries with oblique multi-channel cold plates

During the driving process of electric vehicles (EVs), the continuous high-rate discharge of the power battery causes significant heat accumulation. An efficient battery thermal management system (BTMS) is critical for the safe and stable operation of EVs. In this study, an oblique channel cold plate (OCCP) is designed based on the traditional straight channel cold plate (SCCP) in order to addresses the problem of excessive and uneven temperatures during the high-rate discharge of soft packing lithium-ion batteries. Effects of glycol solution concentration, coolant mass flow rate, coolant inlet temperature, oblique angle for cooling channel, ambient temperature and discharge rate for the cell on the performance characteristics of BTMS, including the cooling efficiency (φ) and pressure drop (ΔP), are analyzed numerically with Ansys Fluent software. The results show that the OCCP has better cooling performance and lower pressure loss than the SCCP. Based on the analysis with the orthogonal design method, when the glycol solution concentration is 20 %, the mass flow rate is 1.0 g/s, and the inlet temperature is 25 °C, the BTMS with SCCP could obtain the optimal performance, corresponding to that the maximum temperature (Tmax) of the battery is controlled at 32.056 °C, while the φ is 0.581, and the ΔP across the cold plate is 52.652 Pa. Furthermore, the cooling efficiency φ of the cold plate decreases with the increase in the oblique angle. When the ambient temperature is 35 °C, the OCCP with a 20° oblique angle provides the best cooling effect for the battery during a 10C discharge. This work is helpful for the design of liquid cold plates in BTMS under high-rate discharge conditions for power battery of EVs.