Three young minds at Temple University’s College of Engineering have produced a very interesting project with some aid from Mishimoto. The team consisted of Bryan Dallas, Chris Decker, and Hung Ly with support from their faculty advisor, Parsaoran Hutapea.
Modern electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and Tesla Roadster are powered by lithium-ion batteries. The main criticism behind these vehicles is the lack of range; the Leaf, for example, can travel only 73 miles on a full charge in average driving conditions. The goal is to maximize efficiency of the batteries’ charge and discharge rate. The team discovered that these batteries have an optimal temperature range that will reduce the rapid dissipation of battery power. Peak battery performance was found to be 25-30 degrees Celsius. To maintain this, they will need a Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Management System.
They developed a device using liquid cooling that was regulated by a microcontroller. It was designed by Ly, the electrical engineer student in the group. How does Mishimoto fit in? Well, we supplied the radiator and fan for the project. If our products can cool a turbocharged racing engine, why not a battery!
The project uses an electric water pump that runs fluid through a Mishimoto radiator cooled by an electric fan. On the electronics side, thermistors monitor the temperature of the batteries, allowing the heat to be controlled without any user input. Sounds easy, right?
Wrong. The group encountered burnt microprocessors, many circuit adjustments, and loads of stress. In the end the team was successful in its endeavor; the system allows for the battery to charge and discharge to the best of its ability and prevents capacity fade. That’s an A+ in our book!
We were honored to assist Bryan, Chris, and Hung and wish them luck with all their future undertakings. Well done, guys!
For more information about this, visit the project web page https://sites.google.com/a/temple.edu/teampropagation/
