Thermal design and simulation of mini-channel cold plate for water cooled large sized prismatic lithium-ion battery

This paper has presented a comparative study of the temperature and velocity distributions within the mini-channel cold plates placed on a prismatic lithium-ion battery cell using experimental and numerical techniques. The study was conducted for water cooling methods at 1C and 2C discharge rates and different operating temperatures of 5 °C, 15 °C, and 25 °C. A total of nineteen thermocouples were used for this experimental work, and were purposefully placed at different locations. Out of nineteen, ten T-type thermocouples were placed on the principal surface of the battery, and four K-type thermocouples were used to measure water inlet and outlet temperature. Computationally, the k-ε model in ANSYS Fluent was used to simulate the flow in a mini-channel cold plate, and the data was validated with the experimental data for temperature profiles. The present results show that increased discharge rates and increased operating temperature results in increased temperature of the cold plates. Furthermore, the thermocouple sensors nearest the electrodes (anode and cathode) measured the higher temperatures than the sensors located at the center of the battery surface.