Computational Analysis of Conventional and Extended Cooling Plate Configurations for Enhanced Thermal Management of Air-Cooled Lithium-Ion Battery Cells

Abstract

Efficient thermal management is essential for maintaining the performance, reliability, and safety of lithium-ion battery systems, particularly under high charging and discharging conditions. This study presents a computational analysis of conventional and extended cooling plate configurations for improving the thermal management of liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery cells. A comparative three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed to investigate the thermal behavior of two adjacent battery cells equipped with (i) a conventional battery cells and (ii) an extended cooling plate that thermally connects neighboring cells. The influence of the extended cooling plate on temperature distribution, heat transfer characteristics, coolant flow behavior, and thermal uniformity is evaluated under identical operating conditions.
The numerical model incorporates conjugate heat transfer between the lithium-ion cells, aluminum cooling plate, and air as a coolant. The effects of coolant velocity, pressure drop, and heat generation rate on the thermal performance of both configurations are analyzed. The extended cooling plate provides an additional conductive pathway between adjacent cells, increasing the effective heat transfer area and reducing localized thermal gradients. Compared with the conventional design, the extended configuration demonstrates improved heat dissipation capability, lower maximum cell temperature, and enhanced temperature uniformity between neighboring cells. It is observed that the battery cells with extended cooling plate reduced the maximum cell temperature by 8–12%, improves the heat removal rate by 10–20%, reduces the thermal resistance by 10–15% with slightly increase in pressure drop by 5–10% than conventional battery cells. Although the extended plate introduces a slight increase in material usage and flow resistance, the improvement in thermal regulation provides a favorable balance between cooling performance and system design requirements.
The findings of this study highlight the potential of extended cooling plate configurations as an effective thermal management strategy for compact lithium-ion battery modules, offering improved thermal safety and enhanced operational reliability for electric vehicle and energy storage applications.