Thermal Management of Lithium Titanium Oxide Batteries: A Numerical Study

A computational thermo-fluid dynamic analysis was performed to predict the thermal performance of a three-wheeler electric vehicle (EV) battery pack with thermal interface material. The simulations were performed using OpenFOAM, an open-source finite volume CFD toolbox. A computational domain with twenty Lithium titanate cells, arranged in a four-by-five configuration with appropriate initial and boundary conditions was considered. Three cases were considered, without interface material, with silica gel as the interface material, and with low-density thermal gap filler TC5515 manufactured by DOWSIL as the interface material. The heat generated by the batteries was modeled with the help of a constant single resistance model, considering the battery pack was under a constant current discharge, at a rate of 2C. The temperature distribution in the battery pack with and without interface materials under natural convection was predicted. From the simulations results it is observed that the use of interface materials improved the cooling effect, and reduced the peak temperature. The studies done on the proposed battery pack could lead to the design and development of a lightweight and compact battery pack involving a passive battery thermal management system for three-wheeler EVs.