Numerical Study on Thermal Management of Air-Cooling Model for Diamond, Triangular and Rectangular Lithium-Ion Batteries of Electric Vehicles

Abstract

To improve the safety of electric vehicles, this paper analyzes the way of cooling lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles and proposes an air-cooling scheme. First, a heat-generation model for the lithium-ion battery is prepared for numerical simulation and a finned air-cooling model is designed, which combines cold air with fins to lower the temperature of lithium-ion batteries. Through feasibility analysis, it is proved that the heat-generation model can reflect the actual heat generation of lithium-ion batteries. The cooling effect of the finned air-cooling model is also evaluated. The temperature can be 23.6 °C lower than the maximum compared with lithium-ion batteries without cooling. The cooling effect is desirable for diamond, triangle and rectangular lithium-ion battery packs, among which the rectangular battery pack achieves the most desirable effect. To conclude, to ensure the safe operation of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, air cooling can be used to control their temperature, with the cooling effect in the rectangular lithium-ion battery pack being the most desirable.