EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA: Enhanced Battery Thermal Management Through Oscillating Heat Pipe Integration

This research fellowship aims to address the significant challenges in the development of secondary batteries, particularly the risks of spontaneous combustion and explosion due to thermal runaway. By focusing on improving battery thermal management systems, this research seeks to control temperatures within safe limits and ensure temperature uniformity between batteries.

Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) present a promising solution for efficient thermal management due to their high heat transfer capability, passive operation, and flexibility in design. The adoption of OHPs can lead to improved battery safety, enhanced performance, and extended lifespan, making them an attractive cooling solution for high-capacity batteries.

Through this project, the Principal Investigator (PI) will collaborate with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to leverage their expertise in battery testing and software. This collaboration will provide the PI with access to advanced tools and techniques, enhancing the understanding and application of OHP technology. The outcomes of this research will not only advance the field of thermal transport but they will also have broader impacts, such as improving energy efficiency, extending the lifespan of batteries in cold climates, and supporting education and workforce development in STEM fields for underserved populations and Alaska Native communities.

The proposed research will experimentally evaluate the heat transfer performance of an OHP-assisted cooling system for high-capacity batteries. The study will investigate the transient heat transfer characteristics of OHPs during the rapid charging and discharging of batteries, identifying potential thermal management issues and operational limits under severe thermal conditions, including transient heating, localized intensive heating, and low temperatures.

The research will explore the effects of various factors such as working fluid, fluid fill ratio, location of heating, and size on the performance of OHPs. A key innovation of this project is the introduction of a volume-adjustable OHP design, which allows for easy adjustment of the fluid fill ratio to identify optimal operating conditions. The outcomes of this research will enhance battery safety and performance, reduce energy consumption, and improve battery lifespan in cold climates.

By collaborating with NASA GRC, the PI will gain valuable insights into the performance and operational limitations of OHPs, significantly contributing to the advancement of this technology. The fellowship will also support a graduate student’s visit to NASA GRC and serve as a starting point to solve the problems of low-temperature-operating secondary batteries to be used in the future decarbonized energy in cold areas.

The research outcomes will enhance national research capacity and competitiveness in cold climate research, establishing a research program focused on high-capacity batteries at extremely low temperatures.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.