Thermal performance analysis of a new type of branch-fin enhanced battery thermal management PCM module

Furen Zhang, Fu Lu, Beibei Liang, Yilin Zhu, Huan Gou, Kang Xiao and Yanxiao He

Renewable Energy, 2023, vol. 206, issue C, 1049-1063

Abstract: To solve the problem of the lightweight design of metal fins and strengthen the heat transfer between phase change material (PCM) and lithium batteries, the synergistic design of fins and phase change material-battery thermal management system (PCM-BTMS) is particularly important. In this paper, 9 new branch fin design schemes were proposed based on the conventional straight fin. The reliability of the computational fluid dynamics model was verified through the heat transfer experiments at different discharge rates. Firstly, the thermal performances of 9 new fins and the conventional straight fin under 5C discharge rate were compared and analyzed, and the optimal model was selected. Secondly, the effects of transverse fin coverage area, number, arc length, thickness, and arc length of inner and outer arc fins on the thermal performance were analyzed considering the effects of different heat transfer coefficients. The results show that the preferred fins have less effect on the heat transfer coefficient enhanced thermal performance compared with the conventional fins; the average cell temperature is reduced by 3.14 K and 3.92 K respectively by increasing the fin coverage area and the number of transverse fins to increase the contact area with PCM to enhance heat dissipation; the average cell temperature changes more significantly with the inner arc fins, and the cell temperature of Case H6 was reduced by 7.2 K; while the transverse fin arc length extension reduced the thermal performance of the system in high temperature cases. The volume of system remained the same, and the thickness of the transverse fins decreased the heat storage capacity of the system when the thickness of the transverse fins was larger. The optimal fins could keep the average cell temperature within 318.15 K. The heat transfer capability was improved by 14.98%, the operating time was extended by 131.5%, and the system weight was reduced by 10.28%.

Keywords: Lithium batteries; Phase change material; Branching fins; Heat transfer; Lightweight design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123002343
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:206:y:2023:i:c:p:1049-1063

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.02.083

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().