A microencapsulated phase-change material suspension based integrated thermal management system for extended range electric vehicle

Abstract In order to improve the temperature maintenance capacity for the battery of extended range electric vehicle (EREV) in low temperature environment, a microencapsulated phase-change material suspension (MPCMS) based integrated thermal management system (ITMS) is proposed. The working modes of the proposed ITMS are divided based on series-parallel connections of the battery thermal management system (BTMS), motor thermal management system, and auxiliary power unit (APU) thermal management system; the structural parameters of the proposed ITMS are determined by robust design; and the system performance difference between the proposed ITMS and the traditional BTMS is verified through the comparative simulation in −20°C environment. The results show that the proposed ITMS can significantly delay the decline of battery temperature in the charge-depleting (CD) stage, and can reduce the time of the positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater being on by 27.26%, and the total being on time by 54.82%. During the charge-sustaining (CS) stage, when the PTC heater is off, the average battery temperature will increase by 15.33°C compared with the traditional BTMS. Based on the proposed ITMS, the temperature maintenance capability for battery can be significantly improved, and the energy consumption of PTC heater and vehicle can be reduced by 48.12%~100% and 13.44%~33.58% respectively.