Abstract:

Lithium-ion capacitors (LiC) are hybrid energy storage systems (ESS) combining the advantages of lithium-ion batteries and electric double-layer capacitors, including longer lifetime, high power, and energy densities. LiCs are popular for high-power applications where fast charge and discharge driving profiles are demanded from electric vehicles (EV). However, LiCs generate excess heat when they are exposed to fast charging/discharging profiles. Therefore, a robust thermal management system (TMS) is crucial to ensure reliable operation. This study proposes a novel hybrid TMS based on air-cooling system assisted phase change materials (PCM), heat pipes, and a heat sink for an LiC module under a 150 A continuous current profile. A very thin aluminum heat sink and flat copper heat pipes were added to the PCM to increase its thermal conductivity. An experimental test bench of the proposed TMS was developed, and the temperature distribution of the module for each of the individual LiC cells was studied. When there was no cooling system, the maximum temperature of the module under natural convection reached almost 59.8◦C. The experimental results showed that after using the proposed hybrid TMS, the hottest cell reached 36.18◦C while the coldest cell reached 35.54◦C. Therefore, 39.5% improvement could be seen during the whole charge and discharge process after 3000 s. Moreover, the temperature difference within the module of four LiCs, was around 0.64◦C, which was exceptional.