Supercapacitor Thermal Behavior of Trams with Different Spatial Structures

In order to relieve supercapacitor module degradation in trams due to temperatures, the influence of spatial structures on the thermal behavior of the supercapacitor module was studied on the basis of the single unit structure of the supercapacitor. Firstly, the supercapacitor electrochemical-thermal coupling model was established, and the experimental platform was built to validate the model. Secondly, the surface area of natural convection heat transfer was defined. The temperature and volumetric characteristics of supercapacitor modules in the forms of 3 × 6 rectangle, 2 × 9 rectangle, 4 × 4 cube and hexagon, were evaluated by four indexes including the maximum temperature, maximum temperature difference, single temperature fluctuation and space utilization. This work shows that the length of the airflow path, surface area of natural convection heat transfer, and the number of the units with forced convection heat transfer will affect heat dissipation effect. The space structure with short and wide flow path has better cooling effect; the cubic structure is the best choice in terms of cooling effect and temperature uniformity; and the hexagonal structure is the best choice as regard to space utilization and cooling efficiency.