Keeping lithium-ion batteries cool is one of the biggest challenges in electric vehicles. When batteries get too hot, they lose performance and can become unsafe. A modern solution is to use a Nanofluid In Battery Cooling System CFD simulation to design better cooling plates. This study investigates an innovative design that combines a special coolant (a nanofluid) with a wavy-shaped channel to pull heat away from the batteries. This report details a CFD simulation based on the reference paper, “A novel nanofluid cooling system for modular lithium-ion battery thermal management based on wavy/stair channels” [1], to prove the effectiveness of this advanced design.

• Reference [1]: Sarchami, Amirhosein, et al. “A novel nanofluid cooling system for modular lithium-ion battery thermal management based on wavy/stair channels.” International Journal of Thermal Sciences182 (2022): 107823.

Figure 1- Schematic of the complete Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) from the reference paper [1].

Simulation Process: Modeling the Nanofluid In Battery Cooling System Fluent Simulation

The simulation was built in ANSYS Fluent using the geometry of a cooling system for 18650-type batteries. The model includes the copper cooling plate and the internal wavy channel. An Al2O3-water nanofluid was used as the coolant and was modeled using a single-phase approach, which is a common and efficient method.

The heat generated by the batteries during operation was applied as a constant heat flux to the walls of the cooling plate. This is a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) problem, as the simulation must solve for heat moving through the solid copper plate and then transferring into the moving fluid.

Post-processing: CFD Analysis, How Wavy Channels and Nanofluids Boost Heat Removal

The simulation results provide a clear and fully substantiated story of how this system achieves superior cooling, which begins with the fluid dynamics inside the wavy channel. This is the “cause” of the enhanced performance. As the Nanofluid In Battery Fluent model shows, when the coolant flows through the continuous curves of the channel, it creates secondary swirling motions called Dean vortices. These vortices disrupt the thermal boundary layer—a thin, slow-moving layer of fluid near the wall that resists heat transfer. By constantly breaking up this insulating layer, the wavy geometry forces the cooler fluid from the center of the channel to come into direct contact with the hot walls. This action, combined with the fact that the Al2O3 nanofluid itself has a higher thermal conductivity than plain water, creates a highly aggressive and efficient heat removal mechanism.

Figure 2: Temperature distribution from the Nanofluid In Battery Cooling System CFD simulation, showing the effective and uniform cooling provided by the wavy channel.

This powerful heat removal mechanism has a direct and measurable “effect” on the batteries’ temperature, which is the ultimate goal of any Battery Cooling System CFD analysis. The temperature contour in Figure 2 is the visual proof. It shows that the batteries are kept at a low and, more importantly, a very uniform temperature, staying around a safe 298 K (25°C). The smooth temperature gradient from the cooler inlet to the slightly warmer outlet, with no dangerous red hot spots, confirms that the heat is being effectively and evenly drawn away from every battery in the module. This temperature uniformity is critical for extending battery life and ensuring safe operation. The most significant achievement of this simulation is the clear demonstration of how the wavy channel’s geometry-induced mixing (the cause) works together with the nanofluid’s superior properties to produce a very low and uniform temperature distribution across the battery module (the effect), validating this design as a highly effective thermal management solution.