Heat dissipation analysis and optimization of lithium-ion batteries with a novel parallel-spiral serpentine channel liquid cooling plate

• Parallel-spiral cooling plate is developed for better overall performances on BTMS. • The effects of structure, flow rate and discharge rate on performance are analyzed. • High flow rates decrease temperature rise markedly at the expense of other indexes. • Parallel-spiral cooling plate has better adaptability to various working conditions. • Parameters of parallel-spiral channels are optimized by orthogonal tests. The design of thermal management system affects the safety, cycle life, and operating cost of lithium-ion battery. This paper discusses the structure and the optimization methods of serpentine channel cooling plates. Numerical analyses are implemented by STAR-CCM+ to study the effects of structures, flow rates, and discharge rates on the performance of liquid cooling plates. Results show that the parallel-spiral serpentine channel obtains the best comprehensive performance. High flow rates can effectively reduce the battery temperature rise, but at the expense of temperature uniformity and pressure drop. Subsequently, an orthogonal test of multiple indexes is carried out to optimize the structure parameters and the flow rates. The result indicates that the flow rate is the main factor affecting the maximum temperature as well as the temperature distribution, while the channel height has a strong influence on the pressure drop. The optimal combination is the channel width W = 26.5 mm, the channel height H = 4 mm, and the mass flow rate Q = 80 g⋅s −1 . The maximum temperature rise is maintained within 10 K, and the temperature standard deviation and the pressure drop decrease by 0.10% and 74.18%, respectively. The parallel-spiral channel cooling plate and optimization method proposed in this study contributes to the improvement of comprehensive performances of BTMS.