Research on aluminum oxide nanofluid liquid cooling battery thermal management performance

Power battery packs accumulate a large amount of heat during charging and discharging, necessitating the design of a thermal management system to control the battery pack temperature rise. Among existing strategies, cold plate-based indirect liquid cooling has emerged as a dominant solution due to its superior thermal management performance. However, conventional coolants face intrinsic limitations in heat dissipation capacity caused by the low thermal conductivity. This study addresses this challenge by synthesizing highly stable aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) nanofluids with enhanced thermal conductivity through a two-step preparation method. The thermal management performance of nanofluid is experimentally evaluated under varying operational conditions, including heat generation power, coolant flow rate, and nanofluid concentration. Experimental results demonstrate that nanofluid reduces maximum temperatures by up to 1.6°C compared to base fluids under high power (150 W) and low flow rate (100 ml/min) conditions, achieving a 10.4% improvement in the comprehensive performance evaluation criterion (PEC) that considers heat transfer enhancement and power consumption.