Transportation

Battery Thermal Management System for Hybrids and Electric Vehicles

Related Patents:  7147071 ; 8,191,618

Contact: David R. Anderson

Phone: (208) 526-0837

E-mail:  Send E-mail

Hybrid Electric Vehicles and electric vehicles provide improved fuel economy and reduce air emissions over conventional vehicles. The performance of such vehicles depends on energy storage systems such as batteries. Battery performance influences acceleration, fuel economy and charge acceptance during recovery from regenerative braking. As the cost of batteries, durability and life-cycle affect the cost and reliability of a vehicle using the batteries for vehicular operation, parameters that affect the efficiency of the batteries may have to be optimized to achieve vehicular performance. Researchers at INL have developed a battery thermal management system to achieve desired and reliable performance in varied climatic conditions while minimizing temperature excursions outside a desired temperature range.