A Review of Cooling Systems in Electric/Hybrid Vehicles

Due to increasing oil demand and serious global warming, a green power generation system is urgently requested in transportation. Electric/hybrid vehicles (EV/HEV) have been considered as a potential solution with great promise in achieving high energy/power efficiency and a low environmental impact. The important electric and electronic equipment in EV/HEV are the battery, inverter and motor. However, because of the high power density in the inverters or the low working temperature of batteries, the cooling problems affect significantly the working performance or the lifetime of electric and electronic equipment in EV/HEV. This paper views different cooling systems including the battery cooling system, inverter cooling system and motor cooling system. A general introduction to the EV/HEV and the electric and electronic equipment working processes are briefly presented at first. Then different methods for the battery cooling system, the inverter cooling system and the motor cooling system are outlined and discussed in this paper. Among other things, the means of using phase change material, or electro-thermal modules are significant for the battery cooling system. Finally, some conclusions or recommendations are presented for the cooling systems, in order to promote the EV/HEV development.