Improving electric vehicle battery cooling efficiency with nanofluid and vibration integration: a novel thermal management approach

The cooling system of an electric vehicle can be affected in various ways by vibrations, potentially impacting its performance and reliability. This encompasses damage to the components, potential leaks, noise, and discomfort, which may impact the performance. The impact of vibrations on electric vehicle cooling systems utilizing nanofluids as their primary working fluids remains insufficiently explored. Ongoing research aims to elucidate the specific influence of vibrations on these cooling systems implemented in such vehicles. The study of vibrations with amplitudes of up to 5 mm and frequencies of up to 25 Hz has been conducted. In the numerical model, a 2% volume concentration Al₂O₃ solution was utilized as the working fluid, with water serving as the base fluid, and Reynolds numbers ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 in the turbulent regime. The present study is focused on performing exergy and entropy analysis utilizing the second law. On inducing vibration onto the system, the Nusselt number rises to a maximum of 170% compared to the static tube. Entropy generation increases with increasing intensity of vibration. A similar trend is observed for second law efficiency which reaches a maximum of 60.81% at 5 mm amplitude and 25 Hz frequency at 20,000 Reynolds number. But with increasing intensity of vibration, dimensionless number of irreversibility (\(\phi\)) shows a negative trend with a minimum of 0.715 at 25 Hz frequency and 5 mm amplitude of vibration. Introducing controlled vibrations can significantly enhance system availability and efficiency, leading to considerable improvements in energy usage and cost-effectiveness.