Performance of an Environmentally Friendly Alternative Fluid in a Loop Heat Pipe-Based Battery Thermal Management System

Marco Bernagozzi, Nicolas Miché, Anastasios Georgoulas, Cedric Rouaud, Marco Marengo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The present investigation aims to devise a thermal management system (TMS) for electric vehicles able to improve on limitations like charging time and all-electric range, together with the safety and environmental impact of the chosen thermal medium. A research gap is identified, as focus is often on addressing system thermal performance without considering that the thermal medium must not only provide suitable performances, but also must not add risks to both passengers and the environment. Thus, this work proposes an innovative cooling system including graphite sheets and a Loop Heat Pipe, filled with Novec™ 649 as working fluid, due to its exceptional environmental properties (GWP = 1 − ODP = 0) and safety features (non-flammable, non-toxic, dielectric). A three-cell module experimental demonstrator was built to compare temperatures when the proposed TMS is run with Novec™ 649 and ethanol. Results of testing over a bespoke fast charge driving cycle show that Novec™ 649 gave a faster start-up and a slightly higher maximum temperature (0.7C), meaning that the gains in safety and lower environmental impact brought by Novec™ 649 came without lowering the thermal performance. Finally, the TMS was tested under three different fast charge conditions (1C, 2C, 3C), obtaining maximum temperatures of 28.4C, 36.3C and 46.4C, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere7738
JournalEnergies
Volume14
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research and the APC were funded by the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering (University of Brighton), the Advanced Engineering Centre (University of Brighton) and Ricardo plc. Acknowledgments: The Authors would like to thank 3M? and in particular Ian Kelsall for the fluid sample and the patience in the negotiations. The Authors would like to acknowledge Ricardo plc as well, for the financial support. The Authors would like also to thank the Advanced Engineering Centre and the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Brighton for the support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the Authors would like to thank Yury Maidanik and Arkadiy Ivanov from Thercon, for their overall help and guidance.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Batteries
  • Electric vehicles
  • Experimental characterisation
  • Loop heat pipe
  • Low pollutant fluid
  • Thermal management

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