Abstract:

With the rapid growth of electric vehicles, the demand for power batteries with high energy density has been increasing fast. Compared with other types of energy storages lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are favored in new energy vehicles due to their low self-discharge rate, long service life, high power and energy densities. Recent researches indicate that lithium ion battery will continue to improve in cost, safety, energy, and power capability and will keep standing out from the rest batteries in the next several years. The battery performance depends noticeably on the temperature. Battery thermal management system, which can keep the battery pack working in a proper temperature range, not only affects significantly the battery pack system performance but is also vital for the safety and stability. This article mainly summarizes the thermal management models in the literature which can predict heat generation, heat transfer and the temperature distribution within the battery cell, module and pack. The multi-physical battery thermal management systems are divided into three categories based on different methods of cooling the phase change materials such as air-cooled system, liquid-cooled system, and heat-pipe-cooled system.