Welcome to Journal of Automotive Safety and Energy,

Journal of Automotive Safety and Energy ›› 2026, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (2): 209-217.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8484.2026.02.006

• Automotive Energy Efficiency and Environment Protection • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Thermal management system for power batteries based on flat heat pipes

DONG Jiashuo1(), DAN Dan1,2,*(), WEI Mingshan1,3, ZHAO Yihang1, ZHANG Yangjun4   

  1. 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
    2 Center for Strategic Research on Frontier and Interdisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
    3 School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
    4 School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Received:2025-02-20 Revised:2026-02-14 Online:2026-04-30 Published:2026-04-30

Abstract:

For the situation where the battery pack composed of lithium-ion batteries operates under conditions with significant heat generation, a thermal management system for a power battery flat heat pipe (FHP) suitable for low temperatures (10 ℃) and high-rate discharge (2C) has been designed. A co-simulation platform combining an electrochemical-thermal coupled battery model and a multi-heat-source thermal resistance network model for the FHP was established and experimentally validated. The results show that the system reduces the battery pack's maximum temperature by 8.63 K and the temperature difference by 10.67 K, at 10 °C and 2C discharge, compared to the condition of pure air cooling. Increasing FHP total thickness from 3 mm to 7 mm lowers the maximum temperature by 8.43 K and the average temperature difference by 4.82 K. Higher external airflow enhances condenser heat dissipation, reducing maximum temperature but increasing the average temperature difference. Conversely, increasing the FHP total thickness or decreasing the dimension-one wick thickness, τw, improves the FHP thermal conductivity, with reducing both maximum temperature and average temperature difference, where, τw = tw / (tw + tv), tw is the wick thickness, tv is the vapor chamber thickness. Experiments confirm accuracy of the model.

Key words: power batteries, thermal management systems, flat heat pipes, electrochemical-thermal coupled model, battery thermal characteristics

CLC Number: