Multiobjective Optimization of a Parallel Liquid Cooling Thermal Management System for Prismatic Batteries

Abstract

Adhering to the thermal management requirements of prismatic battery modules, an improved lightweight parallel liquid cooling structure with slender tubes and a thin heat-conducting plate is proposed. The multiobjective optimization of the structure, operating parameters of the thermal management system, and thermal characteristics of a battery module are carried out. The effects of the equivalent diameter of the square tubes and the inner diameter of the circular tubes on the maximum temperature, maximum temperature difference of the batteries, and coolant pressure drop of liquid cooling battery thermal management system (BTMS) are investigated. The more significant factors, selected as the design variables, are the equivalent diameter of the square tubes, the inner diameter of the circular tube, and the coolant inlet velocity. Combining the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with multiobjective optimization, the different conditions of heat management parameters obtained by Latin hypercube sampling are numerically calculated, and the optimization of these parameters is carried out by the second-generation Elitist Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II). Compared with the thermal characteristics of the battery module before optimization, the maximum temperature of the module after optimization is reduced by 9.3%, the maximum temperature difference is reduced by 20.7%, and the coolant pressure drop from inlet to outlet is reduced by 49.1%.