Using a Traction Battery as Thermal Storage

Authors

Dipl.-Ing. Gero Mimberg, Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen;
Dr. Alois Steiner, Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Rauch,
VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research Center, Graz;
Dipl.-Ing. Felix Weidmann, Fraunhofer-Institut für Betriebsfestigkeit und Systemzuverlässigkeit LBF, Darmstadt;
Dr. Andrés Caldevilla, Dr. Werner Hünemörder, DENSO AUTOMOTIVE Deutschland GmbH, Eching;
Antonio Savi, DENSO THERMAL SYSTEMS S.p.A., Poirino

Summary

The driving range of electrical vehicles decreases significantly at low outside temperatures. In order to reduce the dependency of the driving range on the ambient conditions, the partners DENSO, Fraunhofer, ika (RWTH Aachen) and the Virtual Vehicle Research Center work on a solution, consisting of a compact refrigeration unit in combination with a battery with integrated PCM as heat storage and an insulated housing, which enables, together with preconditioning of the battery, a reduction of the energy consumption during driving. Simulation results for multiple NEDC-cycles run back to back at -10 °C ambient temperature show a decreasing energy consumption by 9.8 % for passenger cabin and battery heating, thus leading to an increase in driving range by 13 %.

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