Numerical study of PCM based TMS for Li-Ion cells

Efficient Thermal Management Systems (TMS) are necessary to control the temperature of Li-Ion cells to assure constant performance over time. Phase Change Material (PCM) based Latent Thermal Energy Storage systems (LTES) can be promising TMS. One of the main advantages of PCM consists in its high energy density that can be stored with an almost isothermal process. This technology permits to keep the system at a constant temperature during the charge and discharge cycles of batteries. This capability perfectly matches the requirements of Li-Ion battery. In this study, a numerical model is developed and validated against reference experimental data in order to optimize a LTES for a given Li-Ion cell. The system works efficiently under different scenarios based on various charge and discharge rates. The simulations are run using Ansys Fluent where an enthalpy-porosity approach is adopted.