Thermo-hydraulic performance and entropy generation analysis of lithium-ion battery with porous medium for temperature homogeneity

In this numerical study, the thermo-hydraulic performance and entropy generation analysis of cylindrical cell battery packs in three configurations, aligned, staggered, and circular, for various Reynolds numbers (Re) has been carried out. Upon comparison, it is observed that the aligned configuration has the lowest maximum surface temperature (309 –319 K). After that, battery cells with the highest temperatures were identified, and the feasibility of a porous medium in enhancing heat transfer rate was evaluated based on the constructal law rather than uniformly applying it to all cells of the battery pack. With the constructal application of porous medium, cells in the staggered configuration resulted in the lowest maximum temperature (307 –316 K). Owing to uniform and lower temperature gradient, the circular configuration with porous medium has lower irreversibility, resulting in a higher heat transfer rate than other configurations. Circular has the lowest pumping power among the porous configurations (40W less than staggered configuration and 25W less than aligned configuration) for the range of Re. Subsequently, circular configuration with a porous medium has the highest thermo-hydraulic performance (nearly 2.5 times higher than staggered configuration and 3 times higher than aligned configuration) and the lowest entropy generation.