Enhancing thermal management in battery electric vehicles using phase change materials

Abstract

With the development of the e-mobility industry, the thermal management of power electronic devices such as inverters in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has become increasingly prominent, especially with today’s trend of high power density and system integration, where traditional cooling methods face many challenges. This thesis focuses on the application of phase change materials (PCMs) in the thermal management of inverters, aiming to improve the thermal management system temperature control capability. First, an inverter power loss model considering switching loss and conduction loss is constructed in matlab to simulate the inverter power loss under real driving conditions. On this basis, a fluid-thermal coupling simulation model was constructed in COMSOL Multiphysics to analyze the thermal response of PCM materials under different layout configurations. This study systematically evaluates the effects of various PCM layouts on temperature rise control and optimizes their thermal buffer performance while satisfying the volume constraints. The simulation results show that a reasonably designed PCM thermal management scheme can significantly reduce the peak temperature of key inverter components and lower the rate of temperature change to reduce the thermal shock, thus improving the thermal stability and reliability of the system and extending the service life of the inverter. This study provides a theoretical basis and engineering reference for the design of an efficient and compact thermal management system for electric vehicles.