Research Information System
Journal of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Gazi University, vol.39, no.4, pp.2587-2600, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, flow and thermal analyses of a liquid-cooled electric vehicle battery module were assessed via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. In CFD analyses, based on a validated model using battery heat generation data available in literature and obtained experimentally, the effect of contact resistance between the batteries and aluminum blocks and between aluminum blocks and water channels placed in battery module and cooling water flow rate were investigated for different working conditions. Findings revealed that at low discharge rate (C-rate) values, contact resistance could be disregarded, causing only a minor temperature difference of around 0.5℃. However, at high C-rate values, contact resistance became significant, resulting in a temperature difference of up to 2.5℃. Also, increasing the cooling liquid flow rate effectively lowered maximum temperature of battery module by approximately 8℃ in high-heat scenarios. Conversely, in low-heat scenarios, excess cooling liquid flow rate led to unnecessary pump energy consumption, which could be reduced by approximately 1/8 while achieving a more homogeneous temperature distribution by choosing an appropriate cooling liquid flow rate. Also, the temperature difference between the batteries decreased and a more homogeneous temperature distribution was achieved in the module by increasing cooling flow rate.