This master’s thesis presents the design of a battery pack cooling system for a Formula Student race car. Proper thermal regulation of a battery pack is crucial to ensure the safety and achieving estimated life of the battery cells. It was ensured that design complies with all the restrictions determined by the competition rules. In addition, mass of the battery pack should be as low as possible to minimize the negative effect on vehicle dynamics. We started by calculating the required battery pack capacity and determined the other output characteristics. On this basis we selected battery cells which can fulfill specified requirements. To select appropriate cell, we made thermal measurements on the individual cell using a duty cycle that represents power consumption of a race car scaled to a single cell. Single cell cooling model was used to, determine the required cooling capacity and to provide an input to the 3D model of the battery pack, which were performed by means of CFD simulation in Fluent on the model of the entire battery pack. The results indicated that the cooling system provides sufficient cooling. We found that slightly higher temperatures occur in some areas of the battery pack and thus, we proposed guidelines for enhancing the system. Finally, we performed an experimental measurement of the temperatures on the cells. Measured temperatures match the results of the computer simulation and confirms our model.
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