Experimental and Numerical Study of Flat Heat Pipe-Liquid Cooling Battery Thermal Management System

An effective battery thermal management system (BTMS) is of great significance to ensure safety and extend the service life for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this paper, to obtain a more suitable operating temperature and a better temperature uniformity for the battery module, an ultrathin flat heat pipe-liquid cooling BTMS is proposed. The effect of different influence factors are investigated through the numerical simulation and the optimization is conducted on this basis. The results suggest that the heat can removed efficiently through the proposed BTMS, and the maximum temperature can be controlled below 43℃. Additionally, a variable heat pipe length scheme is proposed for the BTMS, which can significantly improve the temperature uniformity of the battery module. The average temperature difference can be controlled below 2 ℃ under the high discharge and current changing discharge process in comparison with the original system. The study facilitates a guideline for the optimization design of a BTMS.