Thermal Management of Prismatic LiFePO<inf>4</inf> Battery Module with Inversed-Zigzag Channeled Ferrofluid Flows

Abstract

The thermal management of battery modules plays a crucial role in their lifetime, performance, and safety risks. Overload, or external heat, gives rise to thermal runaway. Under high operational conditions, the electrolyte inside the battery cell evaporates and produces a higher pressure, causing the electrolyte to decompose, leak, ignite, and explode. The thermal behavior of the battery with the flow of ferrofluid channeled zigzag through the battery casing is considered using the turbulent mixture. The computational domain comprises twelve prismatic LiFePO4 battery cells with four cooling flow jacket configurations. A reasonable agreement is reached from the comparison process. The outlet coolant temperatures for the TiO2 nanofluids and Fe3O4 ferrofluids are higher than for water as the working fluid and higher concentration give increased heat removal ability. The inversed-zigzag channeled flow decreases the battery temperature. The maximum temperature gradients of the battery module are 5.00 oC, 4.60 oC, 4.53 oC, 3.41 oC, and 1.85 oC for models I, II(a), II(b), III, and IV, respectively. Therefore, this cooling system may be an alternative for designing a cooling system for the interior area of the battery module, especially a large-scale module.