Turbulent and non-isothermal devised topology cooling plates for liquid-cooled energy storage battery system

Topology-optimized cooling plates effectively exploit the hydraulic-thermal performance of battery thermal management. However, the turbulent state and thermal-dependent parameters of the coolant remain persistently overlooked inside the design loop. The resulting channels are therefore optimized for a flow regime and a set of properties that the cooling plate not experiences. Here we establish a turbulent and non-isothermal topology optimization model for a 46.59 kWh energy storage battery module. Penalty terms on the design variables suppress the spurious turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation of the solid phase in the k - ε RANS equations. The temperature-dependent properties of the coolant are updated while the topology is still being formed. Results found that the turbulent flow-devised design yields a superior performance evaluation criterion than straight-channel and laminar-devised designs, particularly at Reynolds number of 5000, where the improvements reach about 93.2 and 129.5%, respectively. Its slender fins keep the streamline curvature low, and the branched channels reduce the synergy angle between the velocity and the temperature gradient. Additionally, low-Prandtl-number liquid metal favors broad and interconnected channels, while high-Prandtl-number fluids favor finer and more numerous fins that enlarge the wetted area and thin the hydrodynamic boundary layer. At module scale, the ethylene glycol/water solution allows stronger lateral heat dissipation and reduction in downstream thermal accumulation, reducing residual battery heat by about 8.9% at discharge rate of 0.75 C and inlet Reynolds number of 5000.