Cooling of removable battery pack in the electric car

The thermal management system is the one most important unit in the electric car which controls temperature of electric devices by obtaining a stability of their operation in different load and ambient conditions. For the other side the removable pack installed in the closed cradle for easier service during exchange of the modules should be cooled by the air. It is also better for safety during exploitation for the vehicle parts and people. The paper presents the proposal of ventilation of battery packs, assumptions of the battery pack cooling system, mathematical model of heat exchange and graphical results obtained from simulation carried out using the CFD program. During modelling it took into account two models: two-dimensional and three-dimensional for evaluation of the air flow and cooling rate of the battery modules. It was assumed four modules in one row of the cradle with total electric capacity above 4 kWh. The paper shows geometry of the whole battery unit with ventilation passages in 3D configuration. The aim of the work was determination of thermal parameters of the battery modules cooled by the air flow in the close chamber. The proposed cooling model of the cradle with air flow caused by fans in the pipe inlet shows that it is not possible to decrease temperature in the same way of each battery modules.