Enhancing Battery Pack Cooling Efficiency Through Graphite-Integrated Hybrid-Battery Thermal Management Systems

This study investigates a hybrid-battery thermal management system (BTMS) integrating air-cooling, a cold plate, and porous materials to optimize heat dissipation in a 20-cell battery pack during charging and discharging cycles of up to 5C. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on the equivalent circuit model (ECM) is developed to simulate battery pack behavior under various cooling configurations, including different porous media and vortex generators placed between cells. The impact of battery pack configurations on heat generation is analyzed, and five different porous materials are tested for their cooling performance. The results reveal that, among the examined materials, graphite is the most effective in maintaining the battery temperature within an acceptable range, particularly during high C-rate charging. Graphite integration significantly reduces the thermal stabilization time from over an hour to approximately 600 s. Additionally, our parametric experiment evaluates the influence of ambient temperature, airflow velocity, and cold-plate temperature on the system’s cooling efficiency. The findings demonstrate that maintaining the cold-plate temperature between 300 K and 305 K minimizes the temperature gradient, ensuring uniform thermal distribution. This research highlights the potential of hybrid BTMS designs incorporating porous media and cold plates to enhance battery performance, safety, and lifespan under various operational conditions.