Analysis of a Battery Pack with a Phase Change Material for the Extreme Temperature Conditions of an Electrical Vehicle

Thermal management in an electric vehicle is important to extend the life of the battery. This paper is about modelling and analysis of a 6-kW battery module for improving the thermal performance of the lithium ion battery in electric vehicles with PCMs (phase change materials). For a battery thermal management system, we considered phase change materials such as RT15 (Rubitherm15), RT31, EG5 (Expanded Graphite5), and EG26 PCMs with different thermal properties. The ambient temperature conditions range considered was over 40 °C and below −10 °C, also tested on the hot and cool soaking conditions. The lithium polymer pouch single battery was designed and simulation analysis was performed with and without PCMs to enhance heat transfer rate. The simulation and experiment results on a single battery were satisfied to control the battery temperature within the safe operating conditions. Hence the proposed battery thermal management system (BTMS) was applied on a 6-kW battery pack. The design of the battery module was done in AUTOCAD and analysis was done in ANSYS CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software tool.