Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Immersed-cooling Concepts for Electric Vehicle Battery Packs using Viscoelastic Heat Transfer Liquids (I-BAT)

Project description

Novel coolants for enhanced thermal performance in electric vehicle immersion cooling systems

The performance of battery electric drives in plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) is affected by the power density and efficiency of the EV battery thermal system (BTMS), the batteries’ heating and cooling system. Innovative coolants have the potential to increase the cooling effect and reduce pump losses compared to current lithium–ion battery cooling systems. The EU-funded I-BAT project aims to synthesise and characterise mineral oil-based coolants with optimal rheological and thermal properties suitable for EV BTMSs. The novel fluids, consisting of a viscoelastic liquid carrier matrix with suspended nanoparticles, will enhance heat transfer rates in immersion cooling systems. The project’s work may lead to improvements that will revolutionise the EV sector.

Objective

The penetration of plug-in EVs on the world market faces considerable technological challenges. The performance of battery electric drives is influenced among other things by the power density and efficiency of the EV Battery Thermal System (BTMS), the heating and cooling system for batteries and power electronics. Lithium-ion batteries require a temperature of 15-60 °C for optimal operation, with high demands on temperature uniformity between the cells. The power density of the battery cooling systems has to be doubled compared to the state of the art to enable powerful and compact drives. The tight integration in vehicles means that only minimal cross-sections are available for the liquid coolants used. This challenge is met by innovative coolants, which have shown considerable potential for increasing the cooling effect and reducing pump losses in basic investigations. The subject of work is the synthesis and characterization of mineral oil-based coolants with optimal rheological and thermal properties suitable for EV BTMS. The novel fluids to improve heat transfer consist of a viscoelastic liquid carrier matrix with suspended nanoparticles. The dielectric nature of mineral oils allows the realization of immersion cooling systems with improved heat transfer rates compared to current devices with indirect cooling. In addition, viscoelastic additives can give the flow a controllable non-Newtonian character, resulting in reduced friction losses leading to 10-20% less pressure loss. At the same time, the selective amplification of specific types of coherent secondary flows favors a further increase in heat transfer. Overall, the proposed research aims at doubling thermal performance. The newly developed nanocoolants will be tested in a BTMS prototype to prove that these improments have the potential to revolutionize the relevant transport sector.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

RIA - Research and Innovation action

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN-NUERNBERG
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 918 978,75
Address
FREYESLEBENSTRAßE 1
91058 ERLANGEN
Germany

See on map

Region
Bayern Mittelfranken Erlangen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 918 978,75

Participants (3)

My booklet 0 0