Thermal Analysis of a Battery Cooling System with Aluminum Cooling Plates for Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Electric Vehicles

The battery cells in lithium-ion battery pack assembled with high-capacity and high-power pouch cells, are commonly cooled with thin aluminum cooling plates in contact with the cells. For HEV/EV lithium-ion battery systems assembled with high-capacity, high-power pouch cells, the cells are commonly cooled with thin aluminum cooling plates in contact with the cells. Thin aluminum cooling plates are cooled by cold plate with coolant flow paths. In this study, the effect of the battery cooling system design including aluminum cooling plate thickness and various position of cold plate on the cooling performance are investigated by using finite element methods (FEM). Optimal cooling plate and cold plate design are proposed for improving the uniformity in temperature distributions as well as lowering average temperature for the cells with large capacities based on the simulation results.