Porous Phase-Change Cooling Module for Uniform Battery Pack Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooling systems, such as water cooling jackets, fail to cool cooling objects uniformly due to temperature differences between the inlet and outlet, leading to inefficient heat transfer and the need for larger systems to maintain cooling efficiency, and they rely on single-phase cooling media that are less effective than two-phase systems.
Innovation Solution
A phase-change cooling module with a porous layer and a cooling medium that absorbs heat to boil, using the heat as potential energy for boiling, with features like varying pressures and pre-heating to ensure uniform cooling and increased heat flux.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a conventional water cooling system with a cooling passage is used, then the cooling medium can absorb heat from the cooling object, but the temperature difference between inlet and outlet causes non-uniform cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies phase transition by introducing a porous layer that enables the cooling medium to undergo phase change from liquid to vapor during heat absorption. This phase transition allows the cooling medium to absorb latent heat uniformly across the cooling surface, eliminating the temperature difference between inlet and outlet regions and achieving uniform cooling of the cooling object.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a porous layer as a key component that facilitates uniform heat distribution. The porous structure increases the surface area for heat transfer and enables the cooling medium to distribute evenly across the cooling surface, ensuring consistent temperature distribution and uniform cooling effectiveness.
2Productivity
If the amount of cooling medium is increased to enhance heat transfer efficiency in a single-phase system, then cooling effectiveness improves, but the system size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes phase transition from liquid to vapor in the cooling medium to dramatically increase heat transfer efficiency. During phase change, the cooling medium absorbs latent heat, which is approximately 10 times greater than the sensible heat capacity of the liquid phase alone. This allows the system to achieve high cooling effectiveness with a reduced amount of cooling medium, thereby decreasing system weight and size.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal parameter of the cooling medium by enabling phase transition. This parameter change from single-phase to two-phase cooling allows the system to achieve much higher heat flux with the same or less cooling medium, effectively reducing the required system size and weight while maintaining or improving cooling performance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The module achieves uniform cooling of the cooling object, enhances cooling efficiency by up to 10 times the specific heat capacity during boiling, reduces system size and weight, and maintains consistent pressure for efficient operation without additional equipment.
Implementation Method 1
The cooling medium makes contact with the porous layer and flows an inside of the cooling channel, to absorb the heat from the cooling object. The cooling medium uses the heat from the cooling object as a potential heat for a boiling.
Implementation Method 2
The cooling medium uses the heat from the cooling object as a potential heat for a boiling.
Implementation Method 3
The porous layer is formed on a side wall of the cooling channel with a predetermined thickness, and has a plurality of pores at a surface of the porous layer. The cooling medium makes contact with the porous layer and flows an inside of the cooling channel, to absorb the heat from the cooling object.
Data Source
AI summary
In a phase-change cooling module and a battery pack using the phase-change cooling module, the phase-change cooling module includes a body, a porous layer and a cooling medium. The body has a cooling channel formed through an inside of the body along a predetermined passage, and is attached to an cooling object to transfer a heat from the cooling object to the cooling channel. The porous layer is formed on a side wall of the cooling channel with a predetermined thickness, and has a plurality of pores at a surface of the porous layer. The cooling medium makes contact with the porous layer and flows an inside of the cooling channel, to absorb the heat from the cooling object. The cooling medium uses the heat from the cooling object as a potential heat for a boiling.