Transient CFD Heat Transfer Simulation Model of Air-Cooled Battery Packs

Battery packs can be used to provide emergency during power outages to allow ride-through until restoration of backup power or alternatively, provide sufficient uptime allow the system to backup or save data and records and a safe shutdown. Using battery packs also contributes to more robust power design and higher immunity to power disturbance. Heat transfer in each battery cell as well battery packs remains a challenge because of the complex multi-physics phenomenon and heat transfer paths. temperatures rise with heat generated during both charging and discharging processes. A validated transient heat model can enable real-time temperature monitoring as well achieve better battery thermal management. A full flow and thermal transient simulation was built to investigate the heat transfer phenomenon during the discharging of forced air-cooled battery packs. This transient model is verified with experimental testing and could provide temperature predictions of air-cooled battery packs various battery powers and working conditions.