Experimental and simulation study of liquid coolant battery thermal management system for electric vehicles: A review

Lithium-ion batteries are among the most commonly used batteries to produce power for electric vehicles, which leads to the higher needs for battery thermal management system (BTMS). There are many key concerning points for the users of these batteries, which include reliability, safety, life cycle, and the operating temperature of the batteries. It is known through review that water is the best coolant for batteries, in which the maximum temperature was 43.3°C while the temperature of the coolant was 30°C during the discharge rate of battery pack at 4 C. An effective cooling system is necessary in prolonging the battery life, which controls the temperature difference between the batteries and the peak temperature of the battery. This review paper aims to summarize the recent published papers on battery liquid-cooling systems, which include: battery pack design, liquid-cooling system classification, and coolant performance. Furthermore, this study discusses other factors related to the recent studies, such as the properties and applications of different liquid coolants (oil and water) under the classification of liquid-cooling system and the difference between passive and active, indirect and direct, and external and internal cooling systems are discussed. Moreover, this paper investigates the effect of temperature on the performance of battery in three aspects: low, high, and differential temperatures. Moreover, the study provides a systematic review of liquid-based systems for direct and indirect contact modes.