Thermal Performance of a Micro Heat Pipe Array for Battery Thermal Management Under Special Vehicle-Operating Conditions

The thermal management of battery systems is critical for maintaining the energy storage capacity, life span, and thermal safety of batteries used in electric vehicles, because the operating temperature is a key factor affecting battery performance. Excessive temperature rises and large temperature differences accelerate the degradation rate of such batteries. Currently, the increasing demand for fast charging and special on-vehicle scenarios has increased the heat dissipation requirements of battery thermal management systems. To address this demand, this work proposes a novel micro heat pipe array (MHPA) for thermal management under a broadened research scope, including high heat generation rates, large tilt angles, mild vibration, and distributed heat generation conditions. The experimental results indicate that the temperature difference is maintained 3.44 °C at a large heat generation of 50 W for a limited range of tilt angles. Furthermore, a mild vehicle vibration condition was found to improve temperature uniformity by 3.3 °C at a heat generation of 10 W. However, the use of distributed heat sources results in a temperature variation of 3.88 °C, suggesting that the heat generation distribution needs to be considered in thermal analyses. Understanding the effects of these special battery-operating conditions on the MHPA could significantly contribute to the enhancement of heat transfer capability and temperature uniformity improvement of battery thermal management systems based on heat pipe technologies. This would facilitate the realization of meeting the higher requirements of future battery systems.