A double serpentine channel liquid cooling plate for hotspot targeted cooling of lithium-ion batteries in a battery module

Abstract

The study presents the development and performance analysis of a novel double serpentine channel cooling plate aimed at enhancing heat dissipation from hotspot-targeted cylindrical lithium-ion batteries within a battery module. Specifically, the research focuses on the comparative evaluation of the cooling performance between the double serpentine and single serpentine channel designs. Key parameters such as battery discharge rate, coolant flow velocity, and aluminum nanoparticle concentration are analyzed to evaluate their impact on battery thermal management. Finite element simulations are conducted to model thermal energy generation, fluid flow dynamics, and heat transfer behavior within the battery module. The results demonstrate that the single serpentine channel cooling plate (SSC-CP) reduces the maximum battery module temperature by 4.04 K and 11.01 K at 1C and 2C discharge rates, respectively, compared to natural cooling. Further enhancement in heat dissipation is observed with the incorporation of nanoparticles in the cooling fluid and an increase in coolant flow velocity. Additionally, the double serpentine channel cooling plate (DSC-CP) offers further improvement in thermal management by targeting hotspots within the battery module. Specifically, the DSC-CP reduces the maximum battery module temperature compared to the SSC-CP from 304.78 K to 303.70 K at 1C and from 304.89 K to 303.09 K at 2C. Furthermore, the DSC-CP reduce ΔT, the difference between the maximum and minimum temperature of the battery module, from 5.73 K to 4.69 K at 1C and from 6.97 K to 4.65 K at 2C, thereby improving temperature uniformity and reducing thermal gradients.