Experimental and numerical simulation investigation on the battery thermal management performance using silicone coupled with phase change material

The thermal safety behavior of lithium-ion batteries has attracted much attention due to high energy density. Phase change materials (PCMs) based thermal management system (BTMS). shows great prospects for battery module. However, it has been restricted in large scales such owing to its low thermal conductivity, easy leakage, poor water proofing. In this study, a novel silicone coupled with PCM has been proposed for BTMS. The influences of thickness and thermal conductivity between PCM and silicone impacted on different cooling system have been analyzed. The temperature changes of the battery modules were analyzed at different discharge rate. The results revealed that 14 mm thick PCM and 3 mm silicone exhibited the optimum thermal performance. Compared with the cooling system without silicone in PCM, the temperature of the battery module with silicone coupled with PCM can decrease by 24 degrees C at 4 C discharge rate, it indicated that the temperature of battery module could significantly be controlled without unnecessary power consumption of other cooling during this process. Thus, it should be concluded that silicone coupled with PCM can effectively reduce the temperature of the battery module, especially at high discharge rate. These results are expected to provide a strong basis for the implementation and optimization of phase change thermal management technique in battery module and other energy storage fields.