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A novel Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) is developed as passive cooling system for Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS). LHPs are more efficient than traditional heat pipes at transferring heat at larger distances, which is essential for keeping the batteries in a safe and efficient temperature range. The Single Evaporator Loop Heat Pipe (SE-LHP) BTMS is tested on a battery module comprising of twelve 18,650 lithium-ion battery cells. The tests are conducted at various charge and discharge rates (1C, 1.5C, and 2C) and ambient temperatures ranging from 30°C to 45°C. The SE-LHP BTMS significantly reduces the maximum cell temperature compared to a module without BTMS. At an ambient temperature of 35°C, the SE-LHP BTMS attains temperature drops of 15%, 16.4%, and 16.29% during battery charge rates of 1C, 1.5C, and 2C, respectively. The SE-LHP BTMS also increases the discharge capacity of the battery module. For the 1.5C discharge rate, the discharge capacity increases from 41% State of Charge (SOC) to 0% SOC with the SE-LHP BTMS, compared to 39% SOC without BTMS. For the 2C discharge rate, the discharge capacity increases from 59% SOC to 0% SOC with the SE-LHP BTMS, compared to 56% SOC without BTMS. The SE-LHP BTMS also helps to keep even temperature spreading among the battery cells. When the module is exposed to ambient temperatures ranging from 30°C to 45°C, the SE-LHP BTMS keeps a temperature difference of less than 2.43°C and 3.38°C among the battery cells for all charge and discharge rates, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, pore level simulations were performed to calculate heat transfer coefficient and thermal dispersion coefficient of a consolidated porous structure. A three-dimensional cubic unit cell structure, made up of six cuboid struts was selected to represent the idealized porous structure. To analyze fluid flow and heat transfer through the porous structure, governing fluid flow and energy equations were solved using the finite-volume method. A parametric study was carried out to investigate the effects of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and porosity on heat transfer coefficient of the considered structure. A separate parametric study explored the variation of stream-wise dispersion coefficient with Reynolds number, Prandtl number, thermal conductivity ratio of the solid and the fluid phase, and porosity. Finally, generalized correlations for both non-dimensional heat transfer coefficient and stream-wise dispersion coefficients were proposed. It is observed that the obtained heat transfer coefficient follows two distinct trend lines for both porosities considered in the present investigation. For the considered operating conditions, the stream-wise dispersion coefficient is found to be proportional to square of Peclet number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]