Modeling and total cost optimization of battery thermal management system in a hybrid electric vehicle

In the present study, the battery thermal management of a series hybrid electric vehicle is modeled and optimized for different standard driving conditions. The heat generation of the battery is comprehensively studied in previous works for the steady-state charge or discharge of the battery. Despite the previous investigations, the heat generation of the battery in the present study is modeled for the real driving conditions in terms of battery state of charge and power consumption. The model is validated with the experimental data. The validated model is implemented to minimize the total cost of ownership of the battery thermal management system. In this way, the battery thermal management system is optimized for three different standard driving cycles. The independent variables are the compressor speed, fan speed, chiller size, radiator size, and condenser size. The results reveal that the total cost of optimization is converged to 200 US dollars for all driving cycles. The optimum configuration of the battery thermal management system does not considerably vary for different driving cycles. Therefore, one of the optimum configurations can be considered the overall optimum for battery thermal management.