Thermal Management of EVs with an Overview of Engineering Challenges and our Work on Batteries and Chargers
InterPACK Achievement Award Presentation
Cristina Amon
Alumni Distinguished Professor
Advanced Thermofluids Optimization, Modelling, and Simulation (ATOMS) Laboratory
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto
The next battery technology leap relies on novel thermal management strategies and packaging architectures, realized as intelligent battery thermal management systems (BTMS), which can optimally control the thermo-electrochemical phenomena occurring inside the batteries to maximize performance, minimize degradation, enable fast-charging protocols, and permit a seamless transition of degraded electric vehicle (EV) batteries into less-demanding second-life stationary batteries. This presentation provides an overview of the current thermal engineering trends, challenges and opportunities on EV thermal management, with illustrations from ATOMS Laboratory research projects covering (i) multiscale hierarchical modeling, design, and optimization of EVs and BTMS, (ii) thermo-electrochemical characterization, performance and degradation of lithium-ion batteries, (iii) electro-thermal co-design methodologies of power electronics for EV Chargers, and (iv) sub-continuum modeling and thermal engineering of electrode materials for next-generation metal-ion batteries.
Cristina Amon is Alumni Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. Prior to joining U of T in 2006, she was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered at Carnegie Mellon University. She has pioneered the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics and the development of multidisciplinary hierarchical modelling, concurrent design and optimization methodologies for thermo-fluid transport phenomena, with applications to thermal management of electronics and electric vehicles, renewable energy, and nanoscale transport in semiconductors, novel materials and biomedical devices.
Professor Amon is a licensed professional engineer, elected fellow of all major professional societies in her field and honorary member of ASME, and has contributed over 400 refereed articles to the education and research literature. She has been inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Hispanic Engineer Hall of Fame, Royal Society of Canada, Spanish Royal Academy and US National Academy of Engineering.
Among her many accolades, she received the ASME Gustus Larson Award, the ASEE Westinghouse Medal, the ASEE Ralph Coats Roe Award and the ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award. She was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Influential Women in 2012, the Powerful Women Trailblazers & Trendsetters in 2019, and received the highest honor for Engineers in Canada (2020 Engineers Canada Gold Medal) and in Ontario (2015 PEO Gold Medal) for outstanding engineering public service, technical excellence and professional leadership.
Cristina Amon is the founding chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council and has served on numerous editorial and technical conferences roles, advisory and review boards in North America and abroad. Born in Uruguay, Dr. Amon earned her Mechanical Engineering degree from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and her MS and ScD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.