The coupling of 1D and 3D Tools is being used for an ever-increasing number of applications in automotive development processes. This paper demonstrates the possibility of coupling the 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool FLUENT with the 1D Software KULI to simulate the thermal management of battery modules for the propulsion of hybrid vehicles. One of the most important aspects of hybrid vehicles is to ensure the cooling of the propulsive components (electric motor and converter) and the battery module. The durability of each cell of the battery module strongly depends on the temperature rise during the charging- and discharging process. Hence the behavior of the entire battery module was simulated and optimized prior to the availability of hardware components using both 3D and 1D tools. The aim of the optimization process was to restrict the temperature range of each cell to a reasonable level. The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) of the cells was calculated with FLUENT and used to simulate the transient behavior of the module with KULI. A transient charging and discharging cycle was used to simulate real driving conditions. The study focus was on comparing different cooling strategies (air and water cooling) with regard to efficiency and feasibility. Moreover the heat-up of the cell itself was simulated and the results were compared with measurements, showing good agreement.
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