Innovative Solutions Towards Safe and Sustainable Dielectric Fluids for Immersive Cooling Applications

With the goal to improve autonomy and charging capabilities of electric vehicles, thermal management of batteries has become significantly more important. Compared to standard indirect cooling, the introduction of immersion cooling technology allows for more efficient heat transfer, better temperature control of the cells, and better thermal runaway management. These performance improvements are a result of the direct contact between the cells and a dielectric cooling fluid. Therefore, the key to reach the full potential of immersion cooling lies in the selection of the best dielectric cooling fluid. To that end, Arkema has developed an approach based on enhancing existing developmental and commercial dielectric fluids. Key thermo-physical properties of Arkema?s enhanced, non-flammable, dielectric fluid will be presented, along with its experimental performance in a battery thermal management system. The safety benefits and the design flexibility resulting from a direct-cooled battery with the fluid will be discussed.