Thermal design analysis and performance test of a 1kW thermoelectric battery cooler

Thermal design analysis and performance test of a 1kW thermoelectric battery cooler have been carried out in the present study. State-of-the-art electric and hybrid vehicles are using high power batteries, which generate extreme heat during charging of battery or acceleration. Therefore, appropriate temperature control of such a battery module is very critical to improve the fuel efficiency and the driving range. Thermoelectric cooler is a good candidate for the purpose because of its compactness and independency on the gravitation. Only one drawback is low thermodynamic efficiency (COP, coefficient of performance), which shows the value much less than 1.0. In the present study, a thermal design analysis for 1kW thermoelectric battery cooler was performed to optimize the COP and to get an appropriate battery temperature control scheme. Then, several proto types of 1kW thermoelectric battery cooler based on the thermal design analysis were fabricated and tested. Dimple fins and louver fins for air supply side were adopted in the prototype thermoelectric modules. For cooling the hot side of the thermoelectric battery cooler, a water cooling jacket was used. Cooling tests for the proto type 1kW thermoelectric battery coolers were implemented in a constant temperature and humidity chamber. The cooling COP for the battery cooler was in the range of 0.44~0.70 and the heating COP was in the range of 0.92~1.28. It was found that the performance of air side heat transfer fins strongly influenced the overall COP of 1kW thermoelectric cooler.