Optimized thermal management of a battery energy-storage system (BESS) inspired by air-cooling inefficiency factor of data centers. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lin, Yujui; Chen, Yi-Wen; Yang, Jing-Tang
• Is Part Of: International journal of heat and mass transfer. Volume 200(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: Airflow management -- Battery thermal management -- Battery cooling; Battery energy Storage system (BESS) BESS is a device that can store energy in a battery in a form of electrochemical energy -- Battery -management System (BMS) BMS controls the operation of the battery modules, which can monitor the operation performance and health of the battery modules -- Battery Thermal- management System (BTMS) BTMS monitors and controls the temperature of the battery cells to ensure the performance and safety of the cells -- Electric Vehicle (EV) The vehicles having the electric motor and batteries that is fully powered by electricity -- Energy-storage System (ESS) ESS is the general name for the device which can store the energy in terms of chemical, electric, and the mechanical energy -- Equivalent-circuit Model (ECM) ECM is the method for battery modeling that utilize the RC circuit to characterize the electric performance of the battery -- Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) HEV is the vehicle with multiple power source coupled to the drivetrain system -- Information-technology rack (IT rack) IT rack is the component of the data center that serves as the holder and chassis of the servers -- Open-circuit Voltage (OCV) OCV is the terminal voltage of battery as open circuit -- Phase-change Material (PCM) PCM is the material with melting point at the working temperature that use phase changing process for heat removing -- State of Charge (SOC) SOC represent the electric quantity of battery. SOC= 1 means battery be fully charged; Heat -- Transmission -- Periodicals; Mass transfer -- Periodicals; Chaleur -- Transmission -- Périodiques; Transfert de masse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.4022
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.123388
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-9310

Abstract

Highlights: Common factors of inefficient cooling invoke the formation of universal solutions. Airflow uniformity is the dominant factor for battery air-cooling. Increased air residence time improves the uniformity of air distribution. Abstract: Inspired by the ventilation system of data centers, we demonstrated a solution to improve the airflow distribution of a battery energy-storage system (BESS) that can significantly expedite the design and optimization iteration compared to the existing process. A defective cooling system of a BESS decreases the overall operational efficiency and increases the risk of thermal runaway, but current design optimizations rely on a case-by-case approach. The solutions of this fashion are both time-consuming and costly because of the laborious recursive process. The desire to eliminate the time for development motivates us to pursue a more general path for design optimization. In this work, we identified the similarity of geometry between the data center and the BESS, as well as the factors that induced the unbalanced airflow distribution. Inspired by the data-center thermal management, we propose a generalized solution of layout arrangement that we applied to the BESS design. We performed a quantitative analysis of cooling performance and investigated the flow patterns under given operating configurations. After modification, the maximum temperature difference of the battery cells drops from 31.2°C to 3.5°C, the average temperature decreases from 30.5°C to 24.7°C, and the coefficient of performance (COP) increases four-fold. The modification shows an improvement in temperature uniformity, overall temperature and COP. The cooling solution applicable to the general container BESS design demonstrates the enormous potential for an effective and rapid design optimization. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract