By Josh Perry, Editor
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From Sept. 11-13 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Mich., The Battery Show North America 2018 will showcase some of the latest developments in battery design, materials, technology, and more and with that in mind Design News recently featured new approaches to enhance battery thermal management.

Electric vehicle battery thermal management is a common topic ahead of The Battery Show in Sept. (Wikimedia Commons)

One of the articles highlighted new materials that are being incorporated to enhance battery energy density, including an interview with NeoGraf Solutions LLC, which has more than a century of working with carbon and graphite.

According to the article, the prevention of thermal runaway will prompt a movement to new materials that will minimize battery mass and maximize energy density, particularly in the automotive industry. Primarily, this means moving away from aluminum, which is the most common metal used in heat sinks and other thermal management products, to lighter material such as graphite.

“Graphite has been commonly used as a heat-spreading material in cell phones, laptops, tablets, and big-screen televisions for nearly a decade,” the article claimed. “But when engineers designed plug-in vehicles a decade ago, they didn’t have to worry about issues such as fast charging and cell life, so thermal management systems weren’t a high priority.”

The need for faster charging times and increased power means increased heat as well. NeoGraf Solutions believes that switching from aluminum to graphite could cut half the thickness and weight of heat spreaders while possibly enhancing thermal conductivity.

A second Design News article highlighted developments in gap fillers for electric vehicle (EV) battery systems that will improve the thermal connection between the battery cells and the heat sink, which increases heat transfer.

LORD Corp., a sponsor of The Battery Show, produces CoolTherm thermal gels that flow between the battery and the heat sink to provide a thermal interface material (TIM) to enhance thermal conductivity.  “Liquid gap fillers flow into the gaps created by surface roughness and can be expected to provide coverage of the interface,” the article explained.

A white paper about CoolTherm technology can be read at https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/vCf9C6XAAIy6J09Sp8WEE?domain=bit.ly.

According to the article, liquid gap fillers have several advantages including flexibility in design of thermal management systems as the TIM does not have to be shaped to fit the space and the flexibility in manufacturing a liquid TIM with little to no waste and easy application with automated machines.

For more articles related to The Battery Show, visit https://www.designnews.com/battery-show-novi-mi.