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Effect of spacing on thermal performance characteristics of Li-ion battery cells

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Abstract

In this article, effect of spacing between the battery cells (\(\bar{W}_{\text{f}}\)) on thermal performance of Li-ion battery cells is investigated in detail. Developing a finite volume method-based numerical code for the present analysis, conjugate boundary condition at the cell and coolant interface is considered. SIMPLE algorithm employed for solving the Navier–Stokes equation is validated with famous benchmark lid-driven cavity problem. The heat generation inside the modern battery cell is uniform in accordance with cell zone. Air being the coolant flows between the channel spacing of the battery cells. Forced laminar flow of coolant and steady-state analysis with operating parameters like heat generation term (\(\bar{S}_{\text{q}}\)), Reynolds number (Re), conduction–convection parameter (ζcc), and aspect ratio (Ar) is analyzed with main focus of \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}}\). The range of \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}}\) is from 0.02 to 0.14 varied in steps of 0.02 and Re from 250 to 2000 in step of 250. Coupled heat transfer behavior in terms of maximum temperature and average Nusselt number for these parameters is provided. From the numerical analysis, it is observed that for most of the range of operating parameters, at \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}} = 0.02\), causes a sudden increase in temperature distribution and rise in maximum temperature above critical limits. Average Nusselt number increased with decrease in \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}}\) up to 0.04 and below this, it dropped. Spacing of \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}} = 0.04\) and \(\bar{W}_{\text{f}} = 0.06\) proved to be an optimal spacing at which average Nusselt number is the highest and the maximum temperature is within the safe limit for parameters considered.

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Abbreviations

Ar :

Aspect ratio of battery cell

C f,x :

Dimensionless friction coefficient

L :

Length of battery cell

k :

Thermal conductivity

l o :

Length of extra outlet fluid domain

l i :

Length of extra fluid domain

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient

L o :

Dimensionless length of extra outlet fluid domain

L i :

Dimensionless length of extra inlet fluid domain

Nu :

Nusselt number

q′′′ :

Volumetric heat generation

\(\bar{q}\) :

Non-dimensional heat flux

\(\bar{S}_{\text{q}}\) :

Dimensionless volumetric heat generation

Pr :

Prandtl number

Re :

Reynolds number

T :

Temperature

T o :

Maximum allowable temperature of battery cell

\(\bar{T}\) :

Non-dimensional temperature

u :

Velocity along the axial direction

U :

Non-dimensional velocity along the axial direction

u ∞ :

Free stream velocity

v :

Velocity along the transverse direction

Q r :

Heat removed from the surface (non-dimensional)

V :

Non-dimensional velocity along the transverse direction

w :

Half width

\(\bar{W}\) :

Non-dimensional width

x :

Axial direction

X :

Non-dimensional axial direction

y :

Transverse direction

Y :

Non-dimensional transverse direction

α :

Thermal diffusivity of fluid

ν :

Kinematic viscosity of fluid

ρ :

Density of fluid

ζ cc :

Conduction–convection parameter

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

c:

Center

f:

Fluid domain

avg:

Average

s:

Solid domain (battery cell)

surf:

Surface

∞:

Free stream

m:

Mean

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, P. A. College of Engineering (Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi), Mangaluru, 574153, India

    Asif Afzal, R. K. Abdul Razak & M. K. Ramis

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, N. K. Orchid College of Engineering and Technology, Solapur, Maharashtra, India

    A. D. Mohammed Samee

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Afzal, A., Mohammed Samee, A.D., Abdul Razak, R.K. et al. Effect of spacing on thermal performance characteristics of Li-ion battery cells. J Therm Anal Calorim 135, 1797–1811 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7664-2

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