Feasibility Study Of Using Refrigerant for Thermal Management of EV Battery Pack

Abstract

Thermal management of batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is essential for effective operation in all climates. Lithium ion cells are presently the most promising technology for the use in hybrid vehicles. The cells heat up due to internal heat generation. This may lead to premature aging and necessitates an efficient thermal management. The cells can be cooled by three common method, air-force cooling, liquid cooling or refrigerant cooling. For this project, experimental works have been conducted to investigate the rate of cooling by using a refrigerant R-134a for the thermal management of EV battery and to determine whether it is feasible to use refrigerant for cooling the battery pack of EV. Conceptual design of cooling system is required and all the selected design is fabricate and assembly in order to become a complete refrigerant cooling system. Various conditions are applied such as with or without refrigerant cooling, different operating time and by using a direct contact method. This various condition is required during conducting the experiment in order to find the best method to cool down Li-ion battery. A required data in this experimental works are temperature value and from the result of temperature behaviour, the average temperature difference and maximum temperature difference is defined. From the data obtained, a best condition is defined