Computational Thermal Modeling of Fin-Based Cooling Applied to Hybrid Vehicle Batteries

This article aims to investigate the feasibility of using cooling systems for hybrid vehicle electric batteries based exclusively on forced convection and a finned casing to perform the cooling process. Initially, the battery and casing were standardized according to the parameters established in the current literature and industrial practices. The data were then converted into the threedimensional modeling of a solid object developed using ANSYS 2025 software. Subsequently, the model was subjected to a set of thermal simulations within the same software environment to analyze the mechanisms of the heat transfer mechanisms and the thermal equilibrium temperatures of the system as a function of variations in the volumetric heat generation rate, ˙q′′′ (W/m³), of the batteries, in order to identify a value that satisfies the maximum operating requirements. The results demonstrated that a finned system alone is not sufficient to adequately cool the entire system; however, it may serve as a complementary cooling method.