Nanofluid‐Cooled Microchannel‐Integrated Metal Foam/Phase Change Material Composite‐Based Li‐Ion Battery Pack Design

Abstract

Hybrid cooling has emerged recently for lithium‐ion batteries, and proper pack design is essential for safe operation. Hence, this research explores a novel approach using wavy microchannels in phase change material (PCM) + aluminum foam packs for cylindrical batteries. A comparison between active cooling (microchannels in aluminum block) and hybrid cooling (microchannels in PCM block and foam‐PCM block) employing MXene + Al2O3/water hybrid nanofluid is made, followed by the impact of the number of microchannels and foam porosity on the cooling effectiveness. Findings indicate that the foam‐PCM yields significantly lower and (309.86 and 2.55 K, respectively) with seven microchannels at 3C discharge with porosity of 85% and pore density of 50 PPI. This also shows a better temperature distribution than other considered blocks. With the increase in porosity from 75% to 95%, there is an adverse effect on and within the cells, which increases from 309.75 to 310.24 K and 2.16 to 3.62 K, respectively. With the increase in microchannels from three to nine, the decreases from 310.04 to 309.72 K, while the increases from 2.05 to 2.85 K. The proposed pack (having moderate weight) yields superior thermal performance, and the enhanced battery life can justify the increased cost.