Hyundai Mobis presents new battery cooling material
The new insulation material, called a ‘pulsating heat pipe’, is made of an aluminium alloy and a coolant and is placed between the battery cells to lower the internal battery temperature, which typically rises during fast charging processes.
Heat pipes are also used in other devices such as computer CPUs or smartphones, where the metal-tube-shaped thermal conductors enhance heat transfer efficiency, as well as working as high-heat-dissipation materials.
Hyundai further specifies that its system, unlike conventional thermal management systems, “placed PHPs between each battery cell. They quickly transferred the heat generated in each cell to cooling blocks, thereby stably controlling the internal temperature at the module level.” In particular, pulsating heat pipes distribute heat through the vibration and circulation of the coolant inside, resulting in minimal performance degradation due to gravity, even when used in fast-moving vehicles. With more than ten times the heat transfer capacity of standard aluminium, they quickly dissipate heat from overheated battery cells to the outside of the vehicle.
To construct the system, Hyundai Mobis uses a moulding process that enables continuous production on a large scale, simplifies the PHP manufacturing process and reduces production costs. In addition, to facilitate installation on vehicle batteries, PHPs with a thickness of only 0.8 mm were produced, which are significantly thinner and have a larger surface area than standard heat pipes (approx. 6 mm). This improvement in product quality is intended to promote the introduction of electric vehicles.
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