Numerical Simulations for Indirect and Direct Cooling of 54 V LiFePO4 Battery Pack

In this study, three-dimensional thermal simulations for a 54 V Lithium-ion battery pack composed of 18 LiFePO4 pouch battery cells connected in series were conducted using a multi-scale electrochemical-thermal-fluid model. An equivalent circuit model (ECM) is used as a subscale electrochemical model at each cell node of the battery, which is then combined with the macro-scale thermal and fluid equations to construct a model of the battery and battery pack. With the model, the cooling effects of indirect cooling and direct cooling battery thermal management systems (BTMS) on the battery pack under rapid discharging conditions are explored. It is found that when the battery pack is discharged at 2C, indirect cooling of the bottom plate can effectively dissipate heat and control the temperature of the battery pack. Under the 10C discharging condition, the maximum temperature of the battery pack will exceed 100 °C, and the temperature uniformity will be very poor when using indirect cooling of the bottom plate for the battery pack. Direct air cooling is also unable to meet the cooling requirements of the battery pack at a 10C discharging rate. The possible reason is that the convective heat transfer coefficient of direct air cooling is small, which makes it difficult to meet the heat dissipation requirements at the 10C condition. When single-phase direct cooling with fluorinated liquid is used, the maximum temperature of the battery pack under the 10C discharging condition can be controlled at about 65 °C. Compared with air direct cooling, the pressure drop of fluorinated liquid single-phase direct cooling is smaller, and the obtained battery pack temperature uniformity is better. From the detailed study of fluorinated liquid single-phase direct cooling, it is concluded that increasing the coolant flow rate and reducing the cell spacing in the battery pack can achieve a better cooling effect. Finally, a new cooling method, two-phase immersion cooling, is investigated for cooling the battery pack. The maximum temperature of the battery pack discharged at a 10C rate can be controlled below 35 °C, and good temperature uniformity of the battery pack is also achieved at the same time. This study focuses on fluorinated liquid immersion cooling using numerical simulations, showing that it is a promising cooling method for lithium-ion battery packs and deserves further study. This paper will provide a reference for the design and selection of BTMS for electric vehicles.