Optimization research on battery thermal management system based on PCM and mini-channel cooling plates

A phase change materials (PCM) coupled mini-channel cooling plates model was established for the optimization of the battery thermal management system (BTMS). Specific cooling strategies with different discharge rates of the battery were discussed. For a discharge rate of under 2C, using PCM can meet the heat dissipation needs. Particularly, for a discharge rate below 1.2C, external cooling was not necessary. For a discharge rate above 2C, active cooling should be added to compensate for the lack of heat storage of PCM. In the research of optimization structure, it was found that the scheme of four cooling plates and each cooling plate with two mini-channels was the most ideal in this research, which not only reduced the battery temperature efficiently but also maintained a good temperature uniformity of the battery. For the optimization parameters, the effect of the ethylene glycol solution temperature, ethylene glycol solution volume fraction and the start-up time of active cooling on the maximum temperature of the battery and the melting fraction of PCM were discussed. After the multi-factor parameters optimization by Response Surface Methodology, three optimization schemes were put forward, which could reduce the driving power consumption by 35% – 40%. The research could provide valuable information support and optimization suggestions for the design of BTMS.