Low cost energy-efficient preheating of battery module integrated with air cooling based on a heat spreader plate

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2023-09, Vol.232, p.121024, Article 121024
• Main Authors: Xu, Xiaobin, Zhu, JiaJun, Zhang, Hengyun, Yi, Zhaozang, Wang, Xiaolin, Zhao, Gang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Heating protocol; High heating efficiency; Lithium-ion cell; Low preheating resistance; Sleeved heat spreader plate
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2023.121024

•The cooling technique and preheating protocol are integrated into battery module.•The SHSP with a simple structure exhibits efficient preheating performance.•A high heating rate of 6.98 °C/min with a 69.8% efficiency is achieved.•The thermal resistance of the proposed preheating method is as low as 2.03 K/W. Integration of heating and cooling functions has aroused increasing interest for the automotive battery modules. The proposed cylindrical 18650 battery module is equipped with an external sleeved spreader plate (SHSP), which features low thermal resistance and a large exchange area as an efficient heat transfer medium. The transient temperature characteristics of the battery module were experimentally investigated in both cooling mode and heating mode, respectively. In cooling mode, the temperature characteristics of the battery module equipped with SHSP were examined. With an inlet velocity of 1 m/s and a discharge rate of 3 C, the temperature rise and temperature difference are only 12.9 °C and 2.83 °C at an ambient temperature of 25 °C, respectively. In heating mode, the heat-up characteristics of the battery module were experimentally examined at a subzero temperature of −20 °C under three different heating protocols: continuous heating, fast-rest-slow heating, and slow-rest-fast heating. Immune from potential effects on the battery internal degradation, the heating rate of the battery module in a continuous heating protocol could reach 6.98 °C/min with a heating efficiency of 69.8%, which outperforms the existing external heating modes.Additionally, the fast-rest-slow heating protocol has clear-cut advantages in terms of heating rate while maintaining a smaller temperature difference during the heating phase. Finally, a simplified thermal resistance network model for the cell is established based on the analysis of the one-dimensional steady state heat transfer. According to projections, the thermal resistance of the present heating model is 2.03 K/W, which is less than the hot air convection heating model by 5.24 K/W. The proposed method exhibits excellent performance and provides a low-cost, highly efficient design solution for the battery module under varying conditions.