Exploration on the efficacy of Ag and CuO nanofluids for pouch lithium-ion batteries and its thermal management

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries still remain a cornerstone for the sustainable transportation by the way of its usage in electric vehicles (EVs). However, their optimal performance hinges on maintaining at consistent thermal conditions especially during operation, and at high discharge rates. The present study proposes a novel mini-channel cooling system specifically designed for a 10 Ah lithium-ion pouch cell. This innovative design incorporates cold plates on both battery surfaces for enhanced heat dissipation. In addition, the efficacy of silver (Ag) and copper oxide (CuO) nanofluid coolants by comparing with traditional water cooling in three distinct battery design configurations was also studied. Design 1 and 2 comprises respectively with partially and fully encased cold plates with mini-channels distributed both segmentally and centrally, and Design 3 the present proposed model featuring a fully covered cold plate with a serpentine flow layout for optimized heat transfer efficiency. Extensive computational analysis using ANSYS FLUENT 18.1 software reveals the superiority of Design 3. Notably, this configuration achieved significantly a lower maximum cell temperature (306.7 K and 305.0 K) with 0.25% and 0.5% Ag nanofluid coolants compared to Design 1 and 2, at a discharge rate of 5C. This underscores the potential of silver nanofluids for superior battery thermal management, particularly within the optimized Design 3 framework. These findings offer valuable insights for developing enhanced battery thermal management systems in EVs.

Recommended Citation

Dhanasekaran, Anitha; Subramanian, Yathavan; Dhanasekaran, Rajkumar; Gubendiran, Ramesh Kumar; Mafo, Abaniwo Rose; Raj, Veena; Yassin, Hayati; and Azad, Abul K (2024) "Exploration on the efficacy of Ag and CuO nanofluids for pouch lithium-ion batteries and its thermal management," Eurasian Journal of Physics and