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Title: Comparison of different cooling methods for lithium ion battery cells

Journal Article · · Applied Thermal Engineering

Choosing a proper cooling method for a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack for electric drive vehicles (EDVs) and making an optimal cooling control strategy to keep the temperature at a optimal range of 15 degrees C to 35 degrees C is essential to increasing safety, extending the pack service life, and reducing costs. When choosing a cooling method and developing strategies, trade-offs need to be made among many facets such as costs, complexity, weight, cooling effects, temperature uniformity, and parasitic power. This paper considers four cell-cooling methods: air cooling, direct liquid cooling, indirect liquid cooling, and fin cooling. To evaluate their effectiveness, these methods are assessed using a typical large capacity Li-ion pouch cell designed for EDVs from the perspective of coolant parasitic power consumption, maximum temperature rise, temperature difference in a cell, and additional weight used for the cooling system. We use a state-of-the-art Li-ion battery electro-chemical thermal model. The results show that under our assumption an air-cooling system needs 2 to 3 more energy than other methods to keep the same average temperature; an indirect liquid cooling system has the lowest maximum temperature rise; and a fin cooling system adds about 40% extra weight of cell, which weighs most, when the four kinds cooling methods have the same volume. Indirect liquid cooling is a more practical form than direct liquid cooling though it has slightly lower cooling performance.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1351573
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5400-63896
Journal Information:
Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 94; ISSN 1359-4311
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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