Simulation and analysis of air cooling configurations for a lithium-ion battery pack

Abstract Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), in which proper measures have to be taken to ensure the batteries working with in a suitable temperature range. The air-cooling battery thermal management system (BTMS) is still a widely used solution for this purpose. Based on modeling and numerical simulation method, this paper aims to analyze and improve the cooling effect of the battery cells by optimizing the airflow configuration and layout employed in the U-type air-cooling BTMS. It is found that, for eighteen selected designs in the current study, the best cooling performance can be achieved when the number of both inlet and outlet manifolds is increased to be three. Further analysis is also carried out for the obtained optimum design to confirm its applicability in a wider range of total inlet airflow rates and temperatures.