Numerical study of PCM thermal behavior of a novel PCM-heat pipe combined system for Li-ion battery thermal management

A three-dimensional numerical model is developed and validated against experimental data for a cylindrical lithium-ion battery module with a compact hybrid cooling system of phase change material (PCM) and heat pipes. This cooling system is particularly well-suited for small or medium-sized battery module or pack. The PCM process and its effect on battery thermal behavior are numerically investigated for cases based on different C-rate discharge processes (0.5C, 1C and 2C), different PCM properties (different mass fractions of expandable graphite) and different charge–discharge cycles of the battery module. The results indicate that the PCM liquid fraction distribution is not uniform during the discharge process, the PCM starts to melt from its outermost neighboring the batteries and its upper part gets more liquid due to natural advection of liquid PCM. The different melting rates within the PCM lead to slightly enlarged temperature difference between batteries. Increasing discharge C-rate further accentuates this temperature difference. A tested composite PCM of 12 wt% EG (expanded graphite) shows better heat dissipation performance than that of pure PCM, and consequently it is better suited for battery thermal management systems. The simulations for different charge–discharge cycles indicate that lowering C-rate and increasing recovery time can improve thermal performance of the battery module and thermal control is thus more effective.