Researchers at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus are aiming to improve the efficiency of light electric vehicles (LEV) by developing next-generation ‘passive’ cooling solutions for the vehicles’ battery chargers.
Researchers at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus are aiming to improve the efficiency of light electric vehicles (LEV) by developing next-generation ‘passive’ cooling solutions for the vehicles’ battery chargers.
One key to their efforts is using graphite, a material with superior qualities in terms of thermal control and cost effectiveness. “A major challenge to efficiently cooling components, which is critical for the reliable function of the power electronics, is the packed arrangement of components and limited available surface area for heat transfer,” says Majid Bahrami, a professor in SFU’s School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering (MSE).
His team is developing a 1200W passively air-cooled LEV charger—the maximum charge power for a North American residential power outlet.
The researchers are using sophisticated graphite sheets to enhance thermal performance, eliminate parasitic cooling power and decrease electromagnetic interference. Parasitic cooling power is the power that fans, pumps and other cooling devices consume to cool down the device (and can eat up as much as 15 per cent of the total energy usage of the device).
Continue reading at Simon Fraser University.
Image via Simon Fraser University.
