102: Battery Management and Cooling

As electrical demands continue to increase, so do demands for cooling, particularly when applied to portable power and power storage systems. Lithium-ion, the preferred energy storage system, requires tight temperature control to operate efficiently and safely. We researched the applications of thermoelectric cooling compared to traditional cooling systems such as liquid and blower cooling systems.

We looked at the feasibility of this technology in an already saturated market of cooling systems to prove that employing thermoelectric coolers (TECs) not only meets specified cooling requirements but also provides clear benefits when compared to traditional cooling systems.

We subdivided the team into simulation, build and control teams that worked in concert to test this theory through simulations and an experimental prototype cooler setup. We discovered the heat flux generated by a TEC exceeded the necessary capability to cool the experimental battery housing. The control system found to be most efficient and effective when controlling battery heat is a hysteresis system using an Arduino microcontroller.

One of the biggest advantages that a TEC cooling system has over traditional cooling systems is its nature as a scalable heat pump. Instead of acting as a passive thermal bridge, it acts as an active one that allows for more precise temperature control. This precision can increase the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries and other expensive, heat-sensitive components such as high-power CPUs and crypto-mining processors.

Another clear advantage for the TEC cooling system is its size—it does not require extensive systems of heat pipes and fluid basins, allowing it to be more applicable to technologies where space is limited near the component that demands cooling (i.e., compact EV battery system cooling).

Because TECs have no moving parts, they require no expensive maintenance, meaning lower operating costs when compared to more traditional cooling systems seen in the market.