An energy-saving battery thermal management system coupling phase change material with dynamic liquid cooling

Liquid cooling (LC) technology demonstrates great heat dissipation performance in battery thermal management systems (BTMSs). However, the conventional continuous flow strategy of coolant leads to unnecessary energy consumption and low temperature uniformity. Herein, a hybrid BTMS coupling composite phase change material (CPCM) with dynamic LC strategy is proposed to address these issues. The passive temperature regulation characteristic of CPCM module achieves zero-energy cooling under mild working conditions, while a real-time temperature-triggered LC strategy dynamically addresses the overflow heat under harsh working conditions, and avoids unnecessary energy consumption up to 8.3 % ∼ 81.2 %. For example, under the discharge rate of 2C, by introducing dynamic LC, the maximum temperatures and temperature differences can be maintained below 37.1 and 2.8 °C, 37.2 and 2.9 °C, and 37.4 and 3.2 °C under ambient temperatures of 25, 30 and 35 °C, respectively. More importantly, the corresponding energy consumptions are reduced by 59.6 %, 77.9 %, and 81.2 % compared to those of traditional continuous LC, respectively. This study provides an efficient and energy-saving solution for BTMSs, balancing temperature control performance and system energy consumption, with notable potential for practical applications in electric vehicles.