Comparative investigation of different liquid-cooled battery thermal management systems (LC-BTMS) designs for battery module of electric vehicle

Efficient thermal management of lithium-ion batteries is crucial to ensuring the safety, reliability, and longevity of electric vehicles, particularly in hot climates. In this study, seven different liquid-cooled battery thermal management systems (LC-BTMS) designs for cylindrical lithium-ion battery (LIB) modules are comparatively investigated. The considered configurations include cold-plate-based, rigid-channel-based, flexible-channel-based, and block-based cooling concepts. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to analyse the thermo-hydraulic behavior of each design under 1C and 3C discharge conditions at an ambient temperature of 30 °C. The performance of the LC-BTMS designs is evaluated using four key indicators: maximum battery temperature ( T max ), temperature non-uniformity ( ΔT ), pressure drop ( ΔP ), and HTF outlet temperature ( T HTF,outlet ). The results indicate that the block-based design provides the best thermal performance, achieving the lowest T max of 298.62 K at 1C and 304.25 K at 3C and the smallest ΔT of 2.08 K at 1C and 3.16 K at 3C due to enhanced heat spreading and effective convection. Flexible channel-based designs offer reasonable thermal control but impose higher hydraulic penalties, with ΔP reaching 173.71 Pa. To include practical considerations, a survey involving experts from industry and academia was conducted. The combined thermo-hydraulic and practical criteria are integrated using the VIKOR multi-criteria decision-making method, which identifies the flexible straight-channel design as the best overall compromise. The findings offer valuable guidance for selecting LC-BTMS designs for electric vehicles operating in hot climate environments. • Thermo-hydraulic performance comparison of distinct LC-BTMS designs. • Survey of engineers captured manufacturing, maintenance, and safety issues. • VIKOR MCDM ranked designs using numerical study and survey responses. • Flexible-channel and block-based designs achieved better rankings overall.