Numerical Simulation On Power Battery’s Heat Pipe Radiator

With the rapid development of Electric Vehicle (EV), it is worth to improve the performance of power batteries as batteries is the most important part of EV. The batteries generate heat when they are charging and discharging. The heat makes the temperature of batteries rising and the temperature distribution nonuniform, which seriously influence the performance of batteries.In this paper, the heat pipe radiator is innovatively used to power battery heat dissipation. The condensation section of heat pipe is cooled by the air forced convection, natural convection and fluid. They are all simulated by Fluent. The heat pipe is simplified when simulated, which is feasible and reduces the computational complexity dramaticly.When fins are cooled by force convection, plain fin, square hole fin and triangle hole fin are simulated. Their heat transfer character and flow character are compared carefully. When fins are cooled by natural convection, Plain fins, slot fins (horizontal slot and vertical slot) and perforated fins (4mm side length triangle hole and8mm side length triangle hole) are simulated and their heat transfer character are also compared carefully. The results of the study show that heat dissipating capacity of the perforated fins and slot fins is weaker than plain fins, but their decrement of quality is more than the decrement of heat. So perforated fins and slot fins help save material and reduce weight.In this paper, it is also simulated when the condensation section of heat pipe is cooled by fluid and its heat dissipating condition is also discussed.The results of the study show that the above cooling methods can all control the temperature difference below0.5℃and the temperature between20℃and40℃. In a word, this heat pipe radiator is efficient to be used in power batteries.