ACTIVE TEMPERATURE CONTROL STRATEGIES WITH LIQUID COOLING THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR LI-ION BATTERIES

Nowadays, electric vehicles (EVs) are considered one of the most promising solutions for reducing pollutant emissions related to the road transportation sector. Although these vehicles have achieved a high level of reliability, various challenges about Li-ion storage systems and their thermal management systems remain unresolved. This work proposes a numerical and experimental study of a lithium-ion storage cell with a scaled battery thermal management system (BTMS). In particular, a channel plate for liquid cooling is specifically designed and manufactured for the cell under test. The BTMS is based on the development of an indirect liquid cooling system with optimal control of the coolant flow rate to fulfill the thermal requirements of the system. A lumped parameters approach is used to simulate the electro-thermal behavior of the system and to analyze the effects of real-time control strategies on the temperature of the cell under test. An ad-hoc experimental test rig is set up for model and control validation purposes, operating under both steady-state and dynamic conditions in a controlled environment. The temperature management is implemented by using an ARDUINO UNO board, regulating the cooling plate water supply through a variable mass flow rate pump. The overall system model was validated and optimized under various environmental conditions, taking into account the actual on-board behavior of the storage cell under study. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system in maintaining the battery temperature within the optimal range, even under harsh temperature conditions. Although the results are based on a single Li-ion battery cell, they can be suitably extended to a complete vehicle battery pack by considering cell-to-cell thermal and electrical interactions.