Optimization of Air-cooling System for a Lithium-ion Battery Pack

¹ Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea

^* Corresponding author: jsw194@skku.edu

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries have been used as energy storage technologies for electric vehicles or power plants due to their high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and long lifespan. Since the temperature of the batteries are directly related with their durability, distributing the temperature uniformly and efficiently is critically important. In this study, a technology using forced convection with air was implemented to remove heat of the battery cells inside a package. The performance of the cooling system was evaluated by changing the gap distance between the battery cells and the configurations of the air channel. In order to improve the cooling performance of the battery, the shape of the battery module was optimized. To begin the optimization process, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to analyze the influence of the design parameters on the battery performance. Based on the result from the analysis, an optimization process was performed to determine an optimum channel design. As a result of the optimization, a battery cell package with the lowest maximum temperature and a minimum deviation between the temperature in between each cell was selected.