NASA cooling technique could enable lightning-fast electric vehicle charging

Many an advanced technology developed by NASA for missions in space has found applications here on Earth. The latest of these may be a new temperature-control technique, which could enable EVs to charge more quickly by enabling greater heat transfer capabilities, and thus higher charging power levels.


Above: An electric vehicle charging. Photo: Chuttersnap / Unsplash

Numerous future NASA space missions will involve complex systems that must maintain specific temperatures to operate. Nuclear fission power systems and vapor compression heat pumps that are expected to be used to support missions to the Moon and Mars will require advanced heat transfer capabilities.

A NASA-sponsored research team is developing a new technology that will “not only achieve orders-of-magnitude improvement in heat transfer to enable these systems to maintain proper temperatures in space, but will also enable significant reductions in size and weight of the hardware.”

That certainly sounds like something that could be handy for high-power DC charging stations.

A team led by led by Purdue University Professor Issam Mudawar has developed the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) to enable two-phase fluid flow and heat transfer experiments to be conducted in the microgravity environment on the International Space Station.

As NASA explains: “The FBCE’s Flow Boiling Module includes heat-generating devices mounted along the walls of a flow channel into which coolant is supplied in liquid state. As these devices heat up, the temperature of the liquid in the channel increases, and eventually the liquid adjacent to the walls starts to boil. The boiling liquid forms small bubbles at the walls that depart from the walls at high frequency, constantly drawing liquid from the inner region of the channel toward the channel walls. This process efficiently transfers heat by taking advantage of both the liquid’s lower temperature and the ensuing change of phase from liquid to vapor. This process is greatly ameliorated when the liquid supplied to the channel is in a subcooled state (i.e. well below the boiling point).  This new subcooled flow boiling technique results in greatly improved heat transfer effectiveness compared to other approaches.”

FBCE was delivered to the ISS in August 2021, and began providing microgravity flow boiling data in early 2022.

Recently, Mudawar’s team applied the principles learned from FBCE to the EV charging process. Using this new technology, dielectric (non-conducting) liquid coolant is pumped through the charging cable, where it captures the heat generated by the current-carrying conductor.  Subcooled flow boiling enabled the equipment to remove up to 24.22 kW of heat. The team says its charging system can provide a current of up to 2,400 amps.

That’s an order of magnitude more powerful than the 350 or 400 kW that today’s most powerful CCS chargers for passenger cars can muster. If the FBCE-inspired charging system can be demonstrated at commercial scale, it will be in the same class with the Megawatt Charging System, which is the most powerful EV charging standard yet developed (that we’re aware of). MCS is designed for a maximum current of 3,000 amps at up to 1,250 V—a potential 3,750 kW (3.75 MW) of peak power. In a demonstration in June, a prototype MCS charger cranked out over one MW.

===

This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Source: NASA

USD
  • US Dollar (USD)
  • Euro (EUR)
  • British Pound (GBP)
  • Canadian Dollar (CAD)
  • United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED)
  • Albanian Lek (ALL)
  • Afghan Afghani (AFN)
  • Armenian Dram (AMD)
  • Angolan Kwanza (AOA)
  • Argentine Peso (ARS)
  • Australian Dollar (AUD)
  • Aruban Florin (AWG)
  • Azerbaijani Manat (AZN)
  • Burundian Franc (BIF)
  • Barbadian Dollar (BBD)
  • Bangladeshi Taka (BDT)
  • Bahamian Dollar (BSD)
  • Bahraini Dinar (BHD)
  • Bermudan Dollar (BMD)
  • Belarusian Ruble (BYN)
  • Belize Dollar (BZD)
  • Bhutanese Ngultrum (BTN)
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina Convertible Mark (BAM)
  • Brazilian Real (BRL)
  • Bolivian Boliviano (BOB)
  • Botswanan Pula (BWP)
  • Brunei Dollar (BND)
  • Bulgarian Lev (BGN)
  • Congolese Franc (CDF)
  • Swiss Franc (CHF)
  • Chilean Peso (CLP)
  • Chinese Yuan (CNY)
  • Colombian Peso (COP)
  • Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
  • Czech Republic Koruna (CZK)
  • Djiboutian Franc (DJF)
  • Danish Krone (DKK)
  • Dominican Peso (DOP)
  • Algerian Dinar (DZD)
  • Egyptian Pound (EGP)
  • Ethiopian Birr (ETB)
  • Fijian Dollar (FJD)
  • Falkland Islands Pound (FKP)
  • Gibraltar Pound (GIP)
  • Ghanaian Cedi (GHS)
  • Gambian Dalasi (GMD)
  • Guinean Franc (GNF)
  • Guatemalan Quetzal (GTQ)
  • Georgian Lari (GEL)
  • Croatian Kuna (HRK)
  • Honduran Lempira (HNL)
  • Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
  • Haitian Gourde (HTG)
  • Hungarian Forint (HUF)
  • Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)
  • Israeli New Shekel (ILS)
  • Icelandic Krona (ISK)
  • Indian Rupee (INR)
  • Iraqi Dinar (IQD)
  • Iranian Rial (IRR)
  • Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
  • Japanese Yen (JPY)
  • Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
  • Kenyan Shilling (KES)
  • Kyrgystani Som (KGS)
  • Cambodian Riel (KHR)
  • Comorian Franc (KMF)
  • South Korean Won (KRW)
  • Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD)
  • Cayman Islands Dollar (KYD)
  • Kazakhstani Tenge (KZT)
  • Lebanese Pound (LBP)
  • Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
  • Liberian Dollar (LRD)
  • Lesotho Loti (LSL)
  • Libyan Dinar (LYD)
  • Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
  • Moldovan Leu (MDL)
  • Malagasy Ariary (MGA)
  • Myanmar Kyat (MMK)
  • Macedonian Denar (MKD)
  • Macanese Pataca (MOP)
  • Mauritian Rupee (MUR)
  • Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR)
  • Malawian Kwacha (MWK)
  • Mexican Peso (MXN)
  • Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
  • Mozambican Metical (MZN)
  • Namibian Dollar (NAD)
  • Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
  • New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
  • Nicaraguan Cordoba (NIO)
  • Norwegian Krone (NOK)
  • Omani Rial (OMR)
  • Panamanian Balboa (PAB)
  • Pakistani Rupee (PKR)
  • Papua New Guinean Kina (PGK)
  • Peruvian Nuevo Sol (PEN)
  • Philippine Peso (PHP)
  • Polish Zloty (PLN)
  • Qatari Rial (QAR)
  • Romanian Leu (RON)
  • Russian Ruble (RUB)
  • Rwandan Franc (RWF)
  • Saudi Riyal (SAR)
  • Sao Tome and Principe Dobra (STD)
  • Serbian Dinar (RSD)
  • Seychellois Rupee (SCR)
  • Singapore Dollar (SGD)
  • Syrian Pound (SYP)
  • Swedish Krona (SEK)
  • New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
  • Thai Baht (THB)
  • Tanzanian Shilling (TZS)
  • Trinidad and Tobago Dollar (TTD)
  • Tunisian Dinar (TND)
  • Turkish Lira (TRY)
  • Solomon Islands Dollar (SBD)
  • Sudanese Pound (SDG)
  • Sierra Leonean Leone (SLL)
  • Surinamese Dollar (SRD)
  • Swazi Lilangeni (SZL)
  • Tajikistani Somoni (TJS)
  • Tongan Paanga (TOP)
  • Turkmenistani Manat (TMT)
  • Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH)
  • Ugandan Shilling (UGX)
  • Uruguayan Peso (UYU)
  • Uzbekistan Som (UZS)
  • Venezuelan Bolivar (VEF)
  • Vietnamese Dong (VND)
  • Vanuatu Vatu (VUV)
  • Samoan Tala (WST)
  • Central African CFA Franc (XAF)
  • CFP Franc (XPF)
  • Yemeni Rial (YER)
  • South African Rand (ZAR)