Investigation on topology optimization of cold plate for battery thermal management based on phase change slurry

<p>Addressing the issue that single liquid cooling/air cooling technology cannot meet the thermal management requirements of the battery under high power conditions, the topology optimization of the cold plate for battery thermal management based on phase change slurry (PCS) is numerically studied in this paper. The mathematical model of topology optimization is constructed with multi-objectives of minimizing both the average temperature of the cold plate surface and the power consumption of the fluid flow based on the variable density method. The numerical results of the topology optimization cold plate (TCP) are then compared with those of the conventional rectangular channel cold plate (RCP). Moreover, the effects of the PCS mass concentration, weight coefficient, volume fraction of the fluid domain, inlet velocity of coolant, heat source power on the cooling performance and flow characteristics of the cold plate are analyzed. The results indicate that the reduction of average temperature, root mean square temperature and flow resistance factor of TCP achieves 23.9%, 80.8%, 18.2%, respectively, compared with RCP by using PCS with 20% mass concentration. The PCS demonstrates superior cooling performance compared to pure water, resulting in a more uniform temperature distribution across the cold plate. Overall, this study offers a novel outlook on topology optimization of the cold plate based on PCS, providing an attainable approach for improving the cooling capabilities while reducing the pump power consumption of battery thermal management system (BTMS).</p>