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Cold Plate Heat Exchanger
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3
Statistics
2 Geometries
8 Meshes
2 Simulation setups
3 Results
2 Geometries 8 Meshes 2 Simulation setups 3 ResultsAbout this project
This simulation project focused on optimizing a cooling plate for electric vehicle battery modules. Objective and Context: The goal was to develop a new cooling plate that meets strict performance requirements while operating with smaller, low-power pumps. The design needed to remove a 400 W/m² heat load, keep steady-state temperatures below 50 °C, and maintain a maximum pressure difference of 2000 Pa between inlet and outlet. Model and Simulation Setup: The original cooling plate design was first evaluated and found to be highly inefficient, reaching temperatures up to 125 °C and failing all performance targets. The new concept was analyzed using a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) setup. Materials were defined as a 50% ethylene-glycol mixture for the coolant and aluminium for the solid components. Boundary conditions included a 2000 Pa inlet gauge pressure, 0 Pa outlet pressure, and a heat flux applied to the wall. SimScale’s workflow simplified design iteration by automatically reassigning materials and boundary conditions when duplicating simulations with updated geometries. Its cloud-native environment enabled large numbers of parallel simulations, accelerating the optimization process significantly. Design Comparison (Old vs. New): Channel Type: Serpentine vs. branching/manifold Cooling Efficiency: Original design failed; new design successfully validated Maximum Temperature: ~125 °C vs. <40 °C (well below the 50 °C requirement) Flow-Rate: The serpentine design produced low velocity and volumetric flow for the same 2000 Pa pressure drop, reducing heat removal. The manifold design enabled a substantially higher flow-rate. Rationale: Although the serpentine layout had more surface area, the restricted flow severely limited cooling performance. The manifold system’s higher flow-rate more than compensated for its smaller heat-transfer area.
