Simulation study on the effect of operating and materials parameters on electrocaloric device for battery cooling

Abstract

The present simulation work discusses the effect of different electric pulses, operating temperatures, electrodes and substrate materials on electrocaloric performance. The electrocaloric effect (ECE) is analyzed using poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) polymer with electrode. The P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) film (100 µm) shows an effective adiabatic temperature change (∆Tad)effective (considering losses) of 4.01 K at 100 MV/m when a square electric field (E) pulse is used. An effect of electrode and substrate layer thickness is also analyzed; the electrocaloric performance decreases with an increase in the thickness of the substrate layer. A smartphone battery's surface (7 cm × 3 cm) is considered for cooling by the proposed design. The simulation study shows the temperature of the battery's surface/source dropped from 313.15 K to ~298 K, ~297.5 K, and ~293.5 K when air cooling, the EC device in contact with the battery (no ECE, E=0) and EC device in contact with battery (with ECE, E =100 MV/m), respectively are used in ~6.5 seconds. The proposed EC device design can provide new insight for mobile or other electronic cooling applications.