Numerical investigations on heat transfer enhancement and energy flow distribution for interlayer battery thermal management system using Tesla-valve mini-channel cooling

Targeted at addressing cooling concerns of high power Cell-Pack, a novel interlayer battery thermal management system applying Tesla-valve mini-channel is proposed. The effect of cold plate position and Tesla-valve channel parameters is investigated to obtain optimal thermal performance through coupled battery cold-plate simulations with a 2C-discharge rate and wide Re range. Compared to main face cooling, side face cooling demonstrates more favorable thermal performance with decreasing maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference by 5.6 °C and 8.5 °C respectively. With application of forward Tesla-valve mini-channel, the maximum temperature decreases by 3.8 °C compared to straight mini channel at a moderate Re of 500. This prior thermal performance is corresponded to the even distributed heat transfer enhancement zones with flow fluctuations. Furtherly, the thermal–hydraulic performance is optimized by channel number, Tesla valve number and contraflow design with doubled Nusselt number and normalized thermal performance factor, maintaining the maximum temperature below 38 °C at a higher discharge current of 210 A. Consequently, the optimal forward Tesla-valve mini-channel owns considerable cooling efficiency factor of 369 and the highest energy flow percentage of 59.2% compared to the straight mini-channel, demonstrating the improved thermal–hydraulic performance and cooling efficiency.