ZHANG Da, LIN Zican, SUN Yasong, et al. Topology-Optimized Liquid Cooling Combined with Phase Change Materials for Thermal Management of Large Cylindrical Batteries[J]. Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 2026, 60(8): 45-55.
DOI:
ZHANG Da, LIN Zican, SUN Yasong, et al. Topology-Optimized Liquid Cooling Combined with Phase Change Materials for Thermal Management of Large Cylindrical Batteries[J]. Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 2026, 60(8): 45-55.DOI: 10.7652/xjtuxb202608004.
Topology-Optimized Liquid Cooling Combined with Phase Change Materials for Thermal Management of Large Cylindrical Batteries
To address the issues of high pressure drop and poor temperature uniformity in traditional liquid cooling plates for large cylindrical batteries
a thermal management system integrating a topology-optimized liquid cooling plate with phase change materials was optimally designed. First
cooling scheme 1 was developed based on the liquid cooling plate and phase change materials. Second
to address the problem that the liquid cooling performance could not be fully utilized due to the limited heat exchange area
cooling scheme 2 was proposed
featuring serpentine liquid cooling channels to increase the heat exchange area. Finally
by utilizing the high thermal conductivity of metallic materials
composite cooling scheme 3 was designed
which integrated a topology-optimized liquid cooling plate
phase change material
and thermally conductive aluminum. A comparative analysis of the flow and heat transfer performance was conducted. It was shown that scheme 1 exhibited good temperature uniformity; however
a limited heat exchange area between the battery and the liquid cooling plate
as well as invalid filling of the phase change material
were observed. For scheme 2
the heat exchange area was increased and the heat transfer performance was improved; however
high flow resistance in the liquid cooling plate and poor temperature uniformity were also observed. Compared with the above two schemes
the average temperature of scheme 3 was reduced by 9.11% and 4.32%
respectively
reaching 38.80℃.The standard deviation of the battery surface temperature was reduced by 12.51% and 23.97%
respectively. Compared with the scheme 2
the inlet and outlet pressure drop of scheme 3 was decreased by 90.08%
reaching 33.90 Pa. The optimized heat transfer pathways and the topology optimization methodology developed in this study provide novel insights for the thermal management design of large cylindrical batteries in confined spaces.
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