High Reynold’s Number Turbulent Model for Micro-Channel Cold Plate Using Reverse Engineering Approach for Water-Cooled Battery in Electric Vehicles

Abstract

The investigation and improvement of the cooling process of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) used in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are required in order to achieve better performance and longer lifespan. In this manuscript, the temperature and velocity profiles of cooling plates used to cool down the large prismatic Graphite/LiFePO4 battery are presented using both laboratory testing and modeling techniques. Computed tomography (CT) scanning was utilized for the cooling plate, Detroit Engineering Products (DEP) MeshWorks 8.0 was used for meshing of the cooling plate, and STAR CCM+ was used for simulation. The numerical investigation was conducted for higher C-rates of 3C and 4C with different ambient temperatures. For the experimental work, three heat flux sensors were attached to the battery surface. Water was used as a coolant inside the cooling plate to cool down the battery. The mass flow rate at each channel was 0.000277677 kg/s. The k-ε model was then utilized to simulate the turbulent behaviour of the fluid in the cooling plate, and the thermal behaviour under constant current (CC) discharge was studied and validated with the experimental data. This study provides insight into thermal and flow characteristics of the coolant inside a cooing plate, which can be used for designing more efficient cooling plates.