Electrochemical–Thermal Fluid Coupled Analysis and Statistical Analysis of Cooling System for Large Pouch Cells

In large-format pouch cells for electric vehicles, the issues of elevated and non-uniform temperatures resulting from heat generation are intensified, necessitating the use of liquid cooling systems. The design factors of the liquid cooling system influence the maximum temperature and temperature differences in the module as well as the pumping power of the cooling system. Although it is known that these design factors interact, research on these interactions and their effects is currently lacking. In this study, the individual as well as interaction effects of design factors on the performance of the liquid cooling system for a large-format pouch cell module were investigated using design of experiment and analyzed through statistical methods. Electrochemical–thermal fluid coupled analysis was used to calculate the performance according to the design factors of the liquid cooling system. The wall and channel widths are factors that directly determine the coolant flow velocity and cooling plate heat capacity, and they exhibited major effects on all three responses. Moreover, the influence of each design factor tended to change in response to variations in the other design factors. Thus, the effects of each factor individually and of interactions between factors were quantitatively compared and evaluated for significance. The width of the walls was found to contribute the most to the maximum temperature (36.00%) and pumping power (57.56%), while the width of the channels contributed the most to the temperature difference (38.24%), indicating that they are the main influencing factors.