With the increasing demands for vehicle dynamic performance, economy, safety and comfort, and with ever stricter laws concerning energy conservation and emissions, vehicle power systems are becoming much more complex. To pursue high efficiency and light weight in automobile design, the power system and its vehicle integrated thermal management (VITM) system have attracted widespread attention as the major components of modern vehicle technology. Regarding the internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), its integrated thermal management (ITM) mainly contains internal combustion engine (ICE) cooling, turbo-charged cooling, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooling, lubrication cooling and air conditioning (AC) or heat pump (HP). As for electric vehicles (EVs), the ITM mainly includes battery cooling/preheating, electric machines (EM) cooling and AC or HP. With the rational effective and comprehensive control over the mentioned dynamic devices and thermal components, the modern VITM can realize collaborative optimization of multiple thermodynamic processes from the aspect of system integration. Furthermore, the computer-aided calculation and numerical simulation have been the significant design methods, especially for complex VITM. The 1D programming can correlate multi-thermal components and the 3D simulating can develop structuralized and modularized design. Additionally, co-simulations can virtualize simulation of various thermo-hydraulic behaviors under the vehicle transient operational conditions. This article reviews relevant researching work and current advances in the ever broadening field of modern vehicle thermal management (VTM). Based on the systematic summaries of the design methods and applications of ITM, future tasks and proposals are presented. This article aims to promote innovation of ITM, strengthen the precise control and the performance predictable ability, furthermore, to enhance the level of research and development (R&D).

Batteries are widely used in energy storage systems (ESS), and thermal runaway in different types of batteries presents varying safety risks. Therefore, comparative research on the thermal runaway behaviors of various batteries is essential. This study investigates the thermal runaway characteristics of sodium-ion batteries (NIBs), lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), and lithium-ion batteries with NCM523 and NCM622 cathodes. The experiments were conducted in a nitrogen-filled constant-volume sealed chamber. The results show that the critical surface temperatures at the time of thermal runaway are as follows: LFP (346 °C) > NIBs (292 °C) > NCM523 (290 °C) > NCM622 (281 °C), with LFP batteries exhibiting the highest thermal runaway critical temperature. NIBs have the lowest thermal runaway triggering energy (158 kJ), while LFP has the highest (592.8 kJ). During the thermal runaway of all four battery types, the primary gases produced include carbon dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, ethylene, propylene, and ethane. For NCM622 and NCM523, carbon monoxide is the dominant combustible gas, with volume fractions of 35% and 29%, respectively. In contrast, hydrogen is the main flammable gas for LFP and NIBs, with volume fractions of 44% and 30%, respectively. Among these, NIBs have the lowest lower flammability limit (LFL), indicating the highest explosion risk. The thermal runaway characteristics of 50 Ah batteries provide valuable insights for battery selection and design in energy storage applications.

The nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) controller is designed for an engine cooling system and aims to control the pump speed and fan speed according to the thermal load, vehicle speed, and ambient temperature in real time with respect to the coolant temperature and comprehensive energy consumption of the system, which serve as the targets. The system control model is connected to the underhood computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model by the coupling thermal transmission equation. For the intricate thermal management process predictive control and system control performance analysis, a coupling multi-thermodynamic system nonlinear model for integrated vehicle thermal management was established. The concept of coupling factor was proposed to provide the boundary conditions considering the thermal transmission interaction of multiple heat exchangers for the radiator module. Using the coupling factor, the thermal flow influence of the structural characteristics in the engine compartment was described with the lumped parameter method, thereby simplifying the space geometric feature numerical calculation. In this way, the coupling between the multiple thermodynamic systems mathematical model and multidimensional nonlinear CFD model was realized, thereby achieving the simulation and analysis of the integrated thermal management multilevel cooperative control process based on the underhood structure design. The research results indicated an excellent capability of the method for integrated control analysis, which contributed to solving the design, analysis, and optimization problems for vehicle thermal management. Compared to the traditional engine cooling mode, the NMPC thermal management scheme clearly behaved the better temperature controlling effects and the lower system energy consumption. The controller could further improve efficiency with reasonable coordination of the convective thermal transfer intensity between the liquid and air sides. In addition, the thermal transfer structures in the engine compartment could also be optimized.

Efforts to meet regulations ensuring the safety of lithium-ion battery (LIB) modules in electric vehicles are currently limited in their ability to provide sufficient safe escape times in the event of thermal runaway (TR). Thermal runaway occurs when the heat generation of a battery module exceeds its heat removal capacity, leading to a rapid increase in temperature and uncontrolled heat release. To address this issue, this study focuses on evaluating the cascading thermal failure characteristics of six-cell LIB modules under an air environment in an experimental combustion chamber. Sensors are strategically placed at advantageous locations to capture changes in various characteristic parameters, including LIB temperature, module voltage, module mass, and the concentrations of venting gases in the combustion chamber. Analysis of the variations in these characteristic parameters over time aims to identify effective signals that can predict thermal failure conditions with a maximum warning time. The results demonstrate that monitoring LIB temperature provides the shortest advance warning of TR propagation within the module. However, module voltage measurements offer a warning that is approximately 2% earlier on average. On the other hand, measurements of the module mass and concentrations of venting gases in the combustion chamber allow for warnings of thermal failure that are, on average, approximately 2 min earlier than those based solely on LIB temperature. These findings can serve as guidance for improving the safety of LIBs, enhancing the reliability of fault detection systems, and exceeding the safe escape time requirements set by current global regulations.