A Lightweight Compact Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Management System Integratable Directly with EV Air Conditioning Systems

This paper discusses an improved thermal management system to ameliorate the performance of lithium-ion battery storage systems for electric vehicles(EVs) applications. A compact and lightweight cold plate is designed and fabricated to fit 18650-type lithium-ion batteries, using aluminum-finned copper tubes. A dynamic temperature PID(proportional, integral, differential) control algorithm for electronic expansion valves is developed to study using EV air conditioning refrigerant, R134a, to control battery modules’ temperature with this compact and lightweight thermal management system. The experimental results show that the proposed battery thermal management system can effectively control the battery module’s temperature. In addition, during 1C discharge, when the PID temperature algorithm control scheme is used, the maximum temperature difference across the battery module peaks at less than 4℃, and the maximum temperature within the battery module is less than 36℃.