Variable flow rate based-thermal management system for marine large-capacity battery

• The heat generation characteristic of marine large capacity battery is studied. • The variable flow rate based thermal management system is proposed. • The reduction of thermal management system energy consumption is achieved. • The most influential factor of system energy consumption is confirmed. The battery thermal management system (BTMs) is commonly employed to maintain the battery temperature within the optimal range of 20 °C to 40 °C. The uneven heat generation characteristics of the battery module are investigated at different depths of discharge ( DOD ): 0 % ∼ 30 %, 30 % ∼ 70 %, and 70 % ∼ 100 %, with the heat generation rates varying between 12.01 W and 371.21 W. Based on these findings, a variable flow rate based-thermal management system ( VFRTMS ) is proposed. The performance of VFRTMS is compared to the constant flow rate based-thermal management system ( CFRTMS ) under seven different scenarios, which include varying water inlet temperatures ( T in ), ambient temperatures ( T amb ), and discharge rates. In the VFRTMS , which uses a variable flow rate strategy Ⅱ, the maximum temperature ( T max ) of the battery module and its temperature standard deviation ( SD ) are maintained below 40 °C and 5 °C, respectively. Additionally, the VFRTMS can reduce pump power consumption ( P pump ) by 10.44 % to 40.66 % compared to the CFRTMS . Furthermore, the variation in discharge rate has the most significant impact on the P pump of VFRTMS , followed by T amb , while T in has the least effect.