Effects of inlet and outlet configurations on the topological optimization design of cooling plates for lithium-ion batteries

Topology optimization is a critical tool for enhancing the cooling efficiency and temperature uniformity of cooling plates, particularly in the context of designing thermal management systems for electric vehicle battery packs. This research employs a topology optimization approach centered on outlet enthalpy as the objective function to create a variety of cooling plates with different inlet and outlet configurations. Through an extensive numerical analysis, a comparative study is conducted among several configurations, including one inlet and one outlet (OP), two inlets and one outlet (TP), two inlets and two outlets (TTP), and four inlets and two outlets (FTP). Under 75 Pa conditions, FTP(y8) shows maximum temperature reductions of 0.42 %, 0.14 %, and 0.04 % compared to OP, TP(b), and TTP, respectively. The temperature difference also decreases by 38.55 %, 20.00 %, and 10.20 % in the respective comparisons. Additionally, as the pressure increases from 25 Pa to 75 Pa, the heat transfer coefficient of FTP(y8) experiences a notable 1.36-fold increase. Moreover, at 75 Pa, the performance evaluation criterion (PEC) value of FTP(y8) even exceeds twice the baseline. Under a 3C discharge rate, FTP(y8) excels with a maximum temperature of 304.49 K, reducing temperature differences and exhibiting superior cooling performance.