Thermal management system design for batteries packs of electric vehicles: A survey

In perspective of increasing environmental degradation, battery packs for electric vehicle is a major focus of study. The battery packs operate at higher current discharge rate to provide enough energy and power to vehicle. During this, enormous amount of heat is generated, which potentially causes safety issues, such as overheating, combustion, explosion. Therefore, the need of design of an efficient thermal management system is essential for reducing any accidents that might occur due to these problems. The present work will conduct detailed survey on the thermal management system design for cooling of the battery packs. This work provides an overview of the present research focus, and points out some possible new research directions to design a more efficient thermal management system. The survey discusses the three important types of thermal management strategies: air management, fluid management and phase-change materials. Parallel air management design can efficiently moderate the temperature rise with a less cost in volume, weight and fee, while liquid management demands more accessories and cost more, and the phase-change materials also guarantee excellent heat dissipation. The critical directions of research identified are a) Multi-objective Optimization of battery pack variables b) Battery cell uniformity and equalization c) Mechanical design of light weight and volume battery pack d) Sustainable and robust battery pack. Based on these findings, authors intend to innovate a compact thermal design of a battery pack that is safe, reliable and economically viable.