Numerical study on heat transfer and structure dynamics of a Li-ion battery module for neighborhood electric vehicle

Abstract

The environment is increasingly threatened by the increase of industrial days related to fuel. And in 2020, the world is going through an extremely difficult period, the COVID19 epidemic. There are many causes of the situation and one of them is the increase in the fuel vehicle industry. Therefore, the use and production of rechargeable storage devices to support vehicles is a concern in the current context. A new design of the battery module for electric vehicles will be evaluated in this study in two aspects including CFD and CSD analysis. This paper presents a three-dimensional modeling approach to simulate the thermal performance of a Li-ion battery module for a new urban car. A single battery cell and a 52.3Ah Li-ion battery module are considered, and an NTGK model is adopted for electrochemical modeling based on input parameters from the discharge experiment. A thermal-electrochemical coupled method was established to provide insight into the temperature variation over time under various discharge conditions. The distribution temperature of a single battery cell was predicted accurately. In addition, in 5C discharge conditions without a cooling system, the temperature of the battery module reached 114 °C, and the temperature difference increased to 25 °C under 5C discharging condition. This condition leads to activation of thermal runaway and the possibility of an explosion. However, application of reasonable fan circulation and position reduced the maximum temperature to 49.7 °C under the 5C discharge condition. The adoption of a new cooling design has shown certain potential in commerce. With an input velocity of 0.1 m / s, the maximum temperature was reduced to 36 °C in a single battery cell simulation. Moreover, accurate prediction of temperature difference between cell areas during operation allows for a clear understanding and design of an appropriate fan system. In the structural analysis of the battery module, an assessment of its resistance to vibration and shock is investigated. Instead of using aluminum, as usual, the battery module has been combined with polycarbonate materials to reduce its weight. Using empirical data input from existing commercial vehicles on the market such as SMART Electric Drive (ED), Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi, and Vauxhall Astra to conduct this new design evaluation process. Based on available vibration assessment standards as well as a number of other experimental results, simulation has shown that the design is completely satisfactory and safe enough to operate.