Previous research identified that battery temperature control is critical to the safety, lifetime, and performance of electric vehicles. In this paper, the liquid-based battery temperature control of electric buses is investigated subject to heat transfer behavior and control strategy. Therefore, a new transient calculation method is proposed to simulate the thermal behavior of a coolant-cooled battery system. The method is based on the system identification technique and combines the advantage of low computational effort and high accuracy. In detail, four transfer functions are extracted by a thermo-hydraulic 3D simulation model comprising 12 prismatic lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cells, housing, arrestors, and a cooling plate. The transfer functions describe the relationship between heat generation, cell temperature, and coolant temperature. A vehicle model calculates the power consumption of an electric bus and thus provides the input for the transient calculation. Furthermore, a cell temperature control strategy is developed with respect to the constraints of a refrigerant-based battery cooling unit. The data obtained from the simulation demonstrate the high thermal inertia of the system and suggest sufficient control of the battery temperature using a quasi-stationary cooling strategy. Thereby, the study reveals a crucial design input for battery cooling systems in terms of heat transfer behavior and control strategy.

Vapor compression systems (VCS) cover a wide range of applications and consume large amounts of energy. In this context, previous research identified the optimization of the condenser fans speed as a promising measure to improve the energy efficiency of VCS. The present paper introduces a steady-state modeling approach of an air-cooled VCS to predict the ideal condenser fan speed. The model consists of a hybrid characterization of the main components of a VCS and the optimization problem is formulated as minimizing the total energy consumption by respectively adjusting the condenser fan and compressor speed. In contrast to optimization strategies found in the literature, the proposed model does not relay on algorithms, but provides a single optimization term to predict the ideal fan speed. A detailed experimental validation demonstrates the feasibility of the model approach and further suggests that the ideal condenser fan speed can be calculated with sufficient precision, assuming constant evaporating pressure, compressor efficiency, subcooling, and superheating, respectively. In addition, a control strategy based on the developed model is presented, which is able to drive the VCS to its optimal operation. Therefore, the study provides a crucial input for set-point optimization and steady-state modeling of air-cooled vapor compression systems.

In engine coolers of off-highway vehicles convective heat transfer at the coolant side is a limiting factor of both efficiency and performance density of the cooler. Here, due to design restrictions, backwater areas and stagnation regions appear that are caused by flow deflections and cross-sectional expansions. As appropriate coolants, mixtures of water and glysantine are commonly used. Such coolants are characterized by their electrical conductivity of some S/m. This gives rise to control coolant flow and therefore convective heat transfer by means of Lorentz forces. These body forces are generated within the weakly conducting fluid by the interactions of an electrical current density and a localized magnetic field both of which being externally superimposed. In application this may be achieved by inserting electrodes in the cooler wall and a corresponding arrangement of permanent magnets. In this paper we perform numerical simulations of such magnetohydrodynamic flow in three model geometries that are frequently apparent in engine cooling applications: Carnot-Borda diffusor, 90° bend, and 180° bend. The simulations are carried out using the software package ANSYS Fluent. The present study demonstrates that, depending on the electromagnetic interaction parameter and the specific geometric arrangement of electrodes and magnetic field, Lorentz forces are suitable to break up eddy waters and separation zones and are thus significantly increasing convective heat transfer in these areas. Furthermore, the results show that due to the action of the Lorentz forces the hydraulic pressure losses can be reduced.

Zusammenfassung: In dieser Arbeit werden mit numerischen und experimentellen Methoden thermisch getriebene Konvektionsprozesse in Flüssigsalzen analysiert. Die Besonderheiten der Untersuchungen liegen darin, dass die in der Salzschmelze auftretenden Wärme- und Stofftransportprozesse zum einen aufgrund der elektrischen Leitfähigkeit des Arbeitsmediums von den Wechselwirkungen mit Magnetfeldern sowie zum anderen aufgrund der Semi-Transparenz des Mediums und der vorliegenden hohen Arbeitstemperaturen von thermischen Strahlungsvorgängen beeinflusst werden. Die genaue Kenntnis der Geschwindigkeits- und Temperaturfelder bei Vorliegen dieser zusätzlichen Effekte ist beispielweise von Wichtigkeit für den sicheren und effizienten Betrieb von thermischen Energiespeichern und Flüssigmetall-Batterien, in denen Salzschmelzen als gängige Arbeitsstoffe eingesetzt werden. Bei der numerischen Analyse wird eine zweidimensionale Rayleigh-Bénard-Anordnung betrachtet, bei welcher der thermische Antrieb der Konvektion in der Salzschmelze durch Heizung von unten und Kühlung von oben erfolgt. Der Magnetfeldeinfluss wird in der quasi-statischen Näherung und der Strahlungseinfluss mittels der Rosseland-Approximation für optisch dicke Medien in Grenzschicht-Näherung modelliert. Die mittels eines Spektrale-Elemente-Verfahrens erzielten Simulationsergebnisse zeigen, dass es unter der Wirkung der zusätzlichen Effekte tendenziell zu einer deutlichen Verringerung des konvektiven Wärmetransport kommt. Dies ist die Folge der strömungsdämpfenden Wirkung der unter Magnetfeldeinfluss induzierten Lorentz-Kräfte und der zusätzlichen thermischen Diffusion durch den Strahlungseinfluss. Im experimentellen Teil der Arbeit wird berichtet, wie ein entsprechender Versuchsstand aufgebaut und instrumentiert wird, um die von der numerischen Analyse vorhergesagten Wirkungen in Modellexperimenten zu verifizieren. Des Weiteren werden Ergebnisse von ersten Testmessungen in Salzschmelzen vorgestellt, durch die erstmalig der Nachweis geführt wird, dass die optischen Verfahren der Particle-Image-Velocimetry und der Laser-Doppler-Anemometrie auch zur räumlich und zeitlich hochaufgelösten Geschwindigkeitsmessung in Salzschmelzen angewandt werden können.