Techno-economic design of battery thermal management systems in different climates

The battery thermal management system (BTMS) of a lithium-ion battery aims to prevent accelerated battery aging at elevated temperatures and reduced operability at low temperatures. Cooling or heating the battery prevents it from being operated outside the preferred temperature window but increases energy consumption, increases maintenance costs and requires an additional investment. Therefore, for a given use case, battery designers need to decide whether installing a heating system is required, if it is cost effective to install a cooling system, and how the battery should be thermally connected to the ambient air. This study presents a method for the techno-economic assessment of different BTMS. The method is applied to stationary energy storage (SES) supporting a fast charging station. This use case was chosen because these batteries are located outdoors and their heat transfer to the surrounding air can be increased or reduced without being limited by packaging constraints. The method is demonstrated by evaluating the cost of five different BTMS in the tropical climate of Singapore and the continental climate of Munich, Germany. The results show that the cost-effectiveness of different BTMS depends on the climate in which the battery is operated. For the Munich climate, the passively cooled baseline design results in the lowest cost, whereas in the Singapore climate the lowest cost is achieved by equipping the SES with cooling fins. Installing active cooling is not cost-effective in both climates for the given use case, but might be considered for ecological considerations, warranty requirements, or to allow safe operation in unexpected extreme conditions. The method enables thermal system designers to evaluate the cost effectiveness of different BTMS in different climate conditions during the early-stage design phase.     «

The battery thermal management system (BTMS) of a lithium-ion battery aims to prevent accelerated battery aging at elevated temperatures and reduced operability at low temperatures. Cooling or heating the battery prevents it from being operated outside the preferred temperature window but increases energy consumption, increases maintenance costs and requires an additional investment. Therefore, for a given use case, battery designers need to decide whether installing a heating system is required...     »