Flow study on lithium-ion battery pack with air cooling

Lithium-ion batteries generate a lot of heat during charging and discharging. Rapid temperature rise in the battery system is one of the core factors that affect its performance. To avoid battery degradation and extend the lifespan of the battery pack system, it is essential to design an effective thermal management plan. We studied the performance of air cooling on the battery modules using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results were verified with a real-scale experimental apparatus, in which we placed pressure sensors to monitor the pressure loss around the battery pack under various inflow conditions. The numerical model was used to predict the cooling performance of the battery pack by calculating the required static pressure loss of the blower at the designed air volume. We expect to reduce the development procedure and achieve an improved thermal management plan by applying the numerical model developed in this paper.