Integrated heat pipe concept for Li/SOCl2 cells cooling

A new thermal control system based on heat pipe to support the development of a primary lithium/thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2) battery designed for future space applications is shown. Performances of the used heat pipe are considered and range performances of a traditional cell cooling concept based on the use of an aluminum pipe put around the cell and fixed to a coldplate is shown. A mock up was carried out and compared to thermal model of the whole system using ESACAP software. This model includes about 120 nodes to present the cell and the aluminum pipe. These results are compared to those of the proposed new cooling concept based on a grooved nickel/F11 heat pipe integrated in the cell. In this case, a mock up was performed and a corresponding nodal model was built. The experimental and modeling results show that the new concept decreases thermal gradient and weight and increases the available current discharge rate compared with the traditional cooling concept.