Coolant

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Chiller

A heat exchanger in which evaporating refrigerant from the air-conditioning circuit cools the battery coolant below ambient temperature. A radiator can only bring coolant close to outside air temperature; the chiller is what lets a pack fast-charge on a 35 °C day. Stationary storage containers use packaged chiller units for the same job.

Cooling plate

A flat aluminium channel assembly under or between the cells through which coolant, usually a water–glycol mix, is pumped. Heat crosses from cell to plate through a thermal interface material; the plate also sets the pack’s temperature uniformity.

Heat exchanger

A device that moves heat between two fluids without mixing them, through thin metal walls with as much area as possible. In battery systems the main examples are the chiller, between refrigerant and coolant, and the radiator, between coolant and air; a cooling plate does the same job between cells and coolant.

Immersion cooling

Bathing the cells directly in a non-conducting dielectric fluid that is pumped to a heat exchanger. It cools every surface evenly and slows thermal propagation, at the cost of fluid mass and sealing.

Insulation resistance

The resistance between the high-voltage circuit and the vehicle chassis, which must stay above about 100 Ω per volt of pack voltage so a person touching the chassis is safe. An insulation monitoring device measures it continuously.

Radiator

A finned coolant-to-air heat exchanger, usually behind the vehicle’s front grille, through which a fan draws air. It can only cool the coolant to a few degrees above the outside air, so it handles the battery in mild weather and the chiller takes over when it is hot or the charging load is high.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

1. A General Energy Balance for Battery Systems

   Dawn Bernardi, Ellen Pawlikowski, John Newman · Journal of The Electrochemical Society · 1985

   Topic background · Battery energy balance and irreversible and reversible heat contributions. Reduced thermal models require explicit assumptions and current-sign conventions.

2. University Physics Volume 2, §1.6: Mechanisms of Heat Transfer

   OpenStax, Rice University

   Topic background · Conduction, convection, radiation and thermal resistance.