Liquid cooling thermal solution for power batteries
Power batteries are the power sources that provide power for tools, often referring to batteries that provide power for electric vehicles, electric trains, electric bicycles, and golf carts. There are various types of power batteries that are suitable for different scenarios. Regardless of the type, the continuous heating during operation is a challenge for the cooling system. Especially with the rapid development of electric vehicles, there are more and more batteries with long endurance and high efficiency, and heat dissipation has always been a key technology. In recent years, water-cooled cooling, also known as liquid cooled cooling technology, has been introduced.
A typical liquid cooling system for power batteries must have the following components: liquid cold plates, circulating fluid, water pumps, pipelines, water tank heat exchangers. A liquid cold plate s a metal block made of copper or aluminum with a water channel inside, which comes into contact with the battery and absorbs its heat. The circulating liquid is circulated in the pipeline by the water pump, and the circulating liquid that absorbs the heat from the battery will flow away from theliquid cold plate, while the new low-temperature circulating liquid will continue to absorb the heat from the battery. The water pipe connects the water pump, water-cooled block, and water tank, and its function is to circulate the circulating liquid in a closed channel without leakage, ensuring the normal operation of the liquid cooling system. A water tank is used to store circulating liquid, and a heat exchanger is a device similar to a heat sink. The circulating liquid transfers heat to the heat sink with a large surface area, and the fan on the heat sink takes away the heat flowing into the air.
The essence of liquid cooling and air cooling is the same, except that liquid cooling uses circulating liquid to transport the heat of the battery from the water-cooled block to the heat exchanger and then dissipate it, replacing the homogeneous metal or heat pipe used for air cooling. The heat exchanger part is almost a replica of the air cooled radiator. The biggest characteristics of liquid cooling systems are two: balancing the heat of the battery and low noise operation. Due to the large specific heat capacity of water, it can absorb a large amount of heat and maintain the temperature without significant changes. The temperature of the battery in the liquid cooling system can be well controlled, and sudden operations will not cause significant changes in the internal temperature of the battery. Due to the large surface area of the heat exchanger, only a low-speed fan is needed to dissipate heat, which can achieve good results. Therefore, liquid cooling is mostly paired with a low-speed fan, In addition, the working noise of the water pump is generally not very obvious, so the overall heat dissipation system is very quiet compared to the air-cooled system.
