Cooling Performance Optimization of Air‐Cooled Battery Thermal Management System with L‐Type Flow

Abstract

The development of electric vehicles has driven the refinement of thermal management technology for batteries. Due to the limitations of device locations during operation, battery thermal management systems (BTMS) with diverse geometric configurations should be considered. Herein, optimization of the L‐type air‐cooled structures (L(A) and L(B)) is performed with the objective of minimizing the maximum temperature difference while avoiding increasing system power consumption. The simulation indicates that optimization of the plenum angle is more effective than the widths of the divergence and convergence plenums for the BTMS L(A). Multivariate optimization of angle and widths decreases maximum temperature (Tmax) by 1.79 K and maximum temperature difference (ΔTmax) by 2.45 K compared to the original BTMS. The adjustment of BTMS L(B) takes place in three aspects: plenum widths, inlet position, and baffle setting. Among these, optimizing the plenum widths proves to be the most efficient method. The Tmax and ΔTmax decrease by 1.41 and 2.13 K, respectively, and the power consumption decreases by 11.30% compared to the original BTMS. The optimal systems display improved cooling performance under varying battery heat generation rates and air flow rates, demonstrating the effectiveness of the optimization methods in enhancing cooling efficiency.