In the energy storage sector, liquid cooling has become a hot topic. Since 2022, an increasing number of liquid-cooled energy storage projects have emerged, and the demand for liquid cooling technology in the energy storage field is gradually expanding among major companies.
As a thermal management technology, liquid cooling is gradually becoming a focal point in the energy storage field. How did liquid cooling evolve from being scarcely used to becoming a mandatory requirement in public tenders? What kind of technology is it? What are its characteristics? And how does it change energy storage?
Overview of Liquid Cooling Technology
Due to the thermal characteristics of batteries, thermal management is crucial for electrochemical energy storage. The main thermal management technologies for energy storage include air cooling, liquid cooling, and phase change cooling, with phase change cooling technology still in its infancy.
Air cooling reduces battery temperature through gas convection, featuring a simple structure that is easy to maintain and has a lower initial investment cost. Therefore, in the early stages of energy storage, air cooling became the mainstream solution, mostly applied in scenarios with lower heat generation rates.
Liquid cooling, compared to air cooling, has been applied relatively late in the energy storage field. Liquid cooling involves heat exchange through a liquid medium, with a more complex overall structure and greater maintenance difficulty. However, as liquid cooling technology matures, its application has rapidly increased, and its advantages have become more evident. Studies show that the heat dissipation capacity of liquids is 3000 times that of air of the same volume, and the thermal conductivity is 25 times that of air. Thus, liquid cooling can achieve rapid heat dissipation and conduction, improving temperature control efficiency and reducing thermal runaway incidents.
Air cooling is susceptible to environmental and wind speed factors, making control difficult, whereas liquid cooling offers stronger controllability. At the same battery temperature, the energy consumption of air cooling is 2-3 times higher than that of liquid cooling; under the same power consumption, the maximum temperature of the battery pack is 3-5 degrees Celsius higher with air cooling than with liquid cooling. Liquid cooling systems can save up to 50% more energy compared to air cooling systems.
Moreover, the container design of liquid cooling systems can provide higher IP protection levels under harsh weather conditions; compared to air cooling, liquid cooling produces less noise, indirectly reducing construction costs.
With more stable heat dissipation efficiency, faster cooling speeds, uniform temperature distribution, higher safety levels, and cost-effectiveness, liquid cooling is becoming increasingly favored by project developers and enterprises.
Market Outlook
In the future, the widespread application of liquid cooling technology in the energy storage field is inevitable. However, the advent of the large-scale energy storage era places higher demands on battery technology and energy storage systems. Liquid-cooled energy storage also faces some challenges, such as the condensation phenomenon caused by high humidity and large temperature differences during cooling, which can easily lead to external short circuits of internal cells or short circuits of electronic components on circuit boards. The complexity of liquid cooling pipelines and numerous interfaces make ensuring the reliable operation of the pipelines throughout the system’s entire lifecycle challenging. The overall weight of liquid-cooled packs is significant, requiring specialized equipment and tools for maintenance, posing higher requirements for subsequent operation and maintenance. Additionally, initial installation costs are high, antifreeze lifespan is short, and there is a risk of coolant leakage.
Specific issues require specific analysis, and overcoming these difficulties to further enhance the protection level of liquid-cooled energy storage battery systems will become the focus of the next stage of liquid-cooled energy storage development.
