Thermal Management of an Air-Cooled Battery Pack Through a Symmetric Wedge-Shaped Layout and Cell Tilt Adjustment

Uneven cell temperatures remain a practical constraint in compact air-cooled battery packs. We used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to screen four geometric controls: fan-side clearance (D1), the number of cell groups, downstream inter-row spacing (W1), and symmetric cell tilt angle (α). Unlike studies that vary these features separately, the present design combines a symmetric wedge-shaped inter-row passage, redistribution gaps, and a symmetric cell tilt angle within an unchanged enclosure. The investigated levels were D1 = 40, 60 and 80 mm; 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 cell groups; W1 = 8, 18, 28 and 48 mm; and α = 0°, 3°, 6°, 9° and 12°. A subsequent combined comparison considered W1 = 8 and 18 mm; three, four and six cell groups; and α = 3°, 6° and 9° at D1 = 40 mm. Among the evaluated cases, D1 = 40 mm, W1 = 8 mm, α = 3° and six cell groups produced the lowest point estimates of pack average temperature (309.51 K) and maximum inter-cell temperature difference (4.51 K). Relative to the baseline configuration (D1 = 80 mm), these values were lower by 14.65 K and 19.73 K, respectively. Within the tested ranges, W1 had the greatest influence on the temperature field. All layout comparisons were performed at 1 C, whereas model validation used experimental data obtained at 0.5 C. Accordingly, the calculations provide a relative thermal ranking within the tested design space and do not establish statistical significance or an energy-optimal design.