Optimization of Liquid-Cooled Thermal Management System Based on Cylindrical Battery Packs: A Novel Wedge Applied to the Cooling Channel

Abstract

In the field of new energy vehicles, battery liquid cooling systems are widely adopted due to their convenient packaging and high cooling efficiency. To address the challenge of relatively poor temperature uniformity in liquid cooling systems, this research introduces a novel wedge structure to enhance system cooling performance and temperature consistency. Firstly, six innovative wedge structures were proposed and comprehensively evaluated based on their heat transfer characteristics. Secondly, the impact of the structural parameters of the selected wedge design on the system's heat dissipation was investigated. Finally, optimizations were conducted on various factors, including arrangement schemes, number of passages, and inlet and outlet directions. The results indicate that the wedge structure disrupts the flow state of the cooling medium, promotes increased coolant flow within the channel, and enhances the heat dissipation of the module. The newly implemented structure can maintain the average module temperature at 32.59°C. By merely arranging the wedges alternately in a single channel, the maximum module temperature can be reduced to 32.41°C, and the temperature difference can be narrowed to 4.52°C, representing a decrease of 2.82°C in maximum temperature and 1.95°C in temperature difference compared with a smooth channel. This proves that the new wedges exhibit exceptional performance in heat dissipation and temperature uniformity. Furthermore, by upgrading the single liquid-cooled module to a double liquid-cooled module with full alternating flow, the temperature difference can ultimately be controlled to 4°C, and the maximum temperature is reduced to 29.84°C.