Thermal Characteristics of an Oscillating Heat Pipe Cooling System for Electric Vehicle Li-Ion Batteries

Ri-Guang Chi, Won-Sik Chung and Seok-Ho Rhi
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Ri-Guang Chi: Applied Thermal Engineering Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, 1 ChungDae-ro, SeoWon-gu, Cheongju 28644, Korea
Won-Sik Chung: Applied Thermal Engineering Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, 1 ChungDae-ro, SeoWon-gu, Cheongju 28644, Korea
Seok-Ho Rhi: Applied Thermal Engineering Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, 1 ChungDae-ro, SeoWon-gu, Cheongju 28644, Korea

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The heat generation of lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) leads to a degradation of energy capacity and lifetime. To solve this problem, a new cooling concept using an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) is proposed. In the present study, an OHP has been adopted for Li-ion battery cooling. Due to the limited space in EVs, the cooling channel is installed on the bottom of the battery module. In the bottom cooling method with an OHP, generated heat can be dissipated easily and conveniently. However, most studies on heat pipes have used bottom heating and top or side cooling methods, so we investigate the various effects of parameters with a top heating/bottom cooling mode with the OHP, i.e., the inclination angle of the system, amount of working fluid charged, the heating amount, and the cold plate temperature with ethanol as a working fluid. The experimental results show that the thermal resistance (0.6 °C/W) and uneven pulsating features influence the heat transfer performance. A heater used as a simulated battery was sustained under 60 °C under 10 W and 14 W heating conditions. This indicates that the proposed cooling system with the bottom cooling is feasible for use as an EV’s battery cooling system.

Keywords: oscillating heat pipe (OHP); Li-ion battery cooling; electric vehicles (EVs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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