Hyundai Mobis Tackles Electric Vehicle Battery Overheating with its New Material Technology

Heat pipes are metal-tube-shaped thermal conductors that enhance heat transfer efficiency between two objects and are high-heat-dissipation materials used for cooling electronic devices such as computer CPUs and smartphones. Specifically, pulsating heat pipes diffuse heat through the vibration and circulation of refrigerant internally, resulting in minimal performance degradation due to gravity even when applied to high-speed moving vehicles. With over ten times the heat transfer performance compared to standard aluminum, they rapidly move the heat from overheated battery cells to the exterior.

SEOUL, South Korea, 18/12/2024 (informazione.it - comunicati stampa - scienza e tecnologia)

Typically, battery systems (BSA) are constructed by adding battery management systems (BMS), cooling fans, and various electronic devices to multiple battery modules (BMA). BMA, which directly generates electrical energy, is a module-level component with multiple battery cells stacked, and optimizing the cooling structure to prevent battery cell overheating is critical. Hyundai Mobis successfully placed PHPs between each battery cell. They quickly transferred the heat generated in each cell to cooling blocks, thereby stably controlling the internal temperature at the module level.

Hyundai Mobis applied a press process enabling large-scale continuous production in the manufacturing stage, simplifying the PHP manufacturing process and reducing production costs. Additionally, to facilitate mounting on vehicle batteries, it achieved PHPs with a thickness of only 0.8 mm, which is significantly thinner and has a larger area than standard heat pipes (approximately 6 mm). This enhancement in product quality aims to promote the adoption of electric vehicles.