Hyundai Mobis Develops Cooling Material to Prevent Car Battery Overheating... Also Reduces Charging Time

Hyundai Mobis announced on the 17th that it has developed a new battery cell cooling material that prevents overheating of electric vehicle batteries. With the development of this new material enabling stable battery thermal management, electric vehicle charging times can be shortened.

The new material developed by Hyundai Mobis is a "Pulsating Heat Pipe." This material is placed between battery cells to lower the internal temperature of the battery. Hyundai Mobis is the first in the industry to apply this cooling new material, widely used in electronic devices such as smartphones, to vehicle batteries and prepare for mass production.

A heat pipe is a metal tube-shaped thermal conductor that enhances heat transfer efficiency between two objects. In particular, the pulsating heat pipe circulates coolant inside through vibration and circulation to evenly transfer heat, so its performance degradation due to gravity is minimal even when applied to high-speed moving vehicles. It transfers heat more than 10 times faster than ordinary aluminum, quickly moving the heat from overheated battery cells to the outside.

A thermal dissipation performance comparison experiment between the 'vibration-type heat pipe (PHP) for battery cell cooling' developed by Hyundai Mobis (right in the photo) and a conventional aluminum cooling plate. The side with PHP applied shows a temperature approximately 20˚ lower. Provided by Hyundai Mobis

Typically, a Battery System Assembly (BSA) is made by combining multiple Battery Module Assemblies (BMA) with a Battery Management System (BMS), cooling fans, and various electronic devices. Among these, the battery module, which directly generates electrical energy, consists of multiple stacked battery cells, and optimizing the cooling structure to prevent overheating is key. Hyundai Mobis layered pulsating heat pipes between the battery cells. Through this, heat generated from each cell is rapidly transferred to the cooling block, successfully controlling the internal temperature stably at the module level.

Hyundai Mobis applied a press manufacturing method capable of mass continuous production even at the production stage. This simplified the manufacturing process and lowered production costs. Additionally, it was made thin for easy installation in vehicle batteries, with a thickness of only 0.8 mm. This new material is expected to be first applied to high-end electric vehicles such as Genesis, which support ultra-fast charging.

A Hyundai Mobis official stated, "Battery safety and charging time reduction have emerged as key prerequisites to overcoming the electric vehicle chasm," adding, "We plan to actively promote and market the technology to global automakers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.