Thermal analysis of cooling plate motor jacket and radiator for managing an electric bike energy storage system

Abstract

The performance of electric bikes has increased with their increased use commercially and it has led to a corresponding increase in the charge and discharge rates for the batteries, and associated battery temperatures. Unfortunately, the cooling mechanisms for these electric bikes have not been able to keep up, with most organizations not implementing any cooling aside from passive ambient air cooling. This has led to a general decrease in battery life and charge capacity for these electric bikes. The proposed research has focused on the development of a novel electric bike cooling system under the practical industrial and environmental framework. It is cheap, effective, and simple to manufacture. Contemporary papers related to the topic have been studied, and the most feasible have been shortlisted to 4 distinct cooling plate designs, 3 Radiator Designs and 5 motor cooling jacket designs, which have been modeled in CAD software and then analyzed through use of CFD software. For the cooling plate design 1 had the lowest cooling capability, design 2 showed a 53.3% increase in total heat transfer from plate to coolant, design 3 showed a 107.52% increase, and design 4 showed a 183.03% increase relative to design 1. For the radiator, design number 2 has been recommended due to optimal cooling and temperature drop of coolant, within the dimensional and space constraints on the electric bike. For the motor cooling jacket, design number 5 was deemed to be the most feasible due to the high heat extraction from motor and good temperature uniformity of contact surface. Their respective advantages and disadvantages are discussed, and the most effective one of them all has been proposed for use. Further potential improvements to its design have also been recommended along with Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) integration for harvesting waste heat to produce energy.