Intersolar Europe in June has come to an end. The container roof-mounted energy storage dual-circuit liquid cooling unit we displayed on the booth attracted many customers at home and abroad. It is not a conceptual model, but a mature solution that has been commercially proven in energy storage projects. Today, let us dismantle the engineering design logic of this unit and talk about what problems it solved and how it solved it.
The quadruple dilemma of a unit
Before delving into the plans, let’s first look at the real situation of the current mainstream plans. Based on our long-term joint design experience with our integrator partners, existing container energy storage liquid cooling units generally adopt vertical side-mounted, single-circuit architecture, which exposed four clear pain points during implementation:
❌Waste of space: The vertical side-mounted layout occupies the space inside the container or on the ground, limiting the further improvement of the system's energy density.
❌Single function: The single-circuit design only serves the battery pack. The inverter PCS liquid cooling requires additional temperature control equipment, which increases the system BOM and integration complexity.
❌Poor environmental adaptability: Side installation exposes the lines to the risk of rats and insects, requiring additional protective structures, making it difficult to control the failure rate in field operations.
❌Single temperature control mode: Lack of heat recovery and multi-working mode collaborative temperature control design, high auxiliary energy consumption, and cumbersome pipeline maintenance. Large area, single function, weak protection, and low energy efficiency. These four points are summarized from the actual experience of multiple integration projects.
Go up, do addition and subtraction
In response to the above problems, our solution ideas are condensed in this overhead dual-circuit liquid cooling unit. Its core design can be summarized into three points, namely overhead installation, dual-circuit coordination, and multi-working condition automatic temperature control.
·Overhead layout, allowing space to return to energy storage
The traditional vertical side-mounted structure is changed to a top-mounted horizontal design. This step directly brings two quantifiable engineering benefits.
– The installation area approaches zero: Make full use of the load-bearing space on the top of the container, without occupying an inch of internal or surrounding ground, freeing up available space for battery cluster expansion.
– Passive physical protection: Through the natural elevation of the physical location, wild environmental risks such as rodent and insect invasion, sediment blockage, and ground water accumulation are fundamentally avoided, and environmental adaptability can be improved without the need for additional protective structures.
·Double-loop coordination, one machine covers two components
This is the fundamental difference between this solution and all single-circuit units. Two independent temperature control loops are integrated inside the unit, corresponding to the PCS side of the inverter and the battery Pack side. The two loops are physically independent of each other through the built-in water-to-water heat exchanger, and achieve thermodynamic coupling and synergy. For integrators, one unit can meet the temperature control needs of the entire cabin, significantly reducing system pipelines, valves, controllers and communication nodes, and directly simplifying the BOM and debugging process.
·Multiple working conditions temperature control, full link automatic response
Different from the single temperature control mode of traditional units, this solution achieves automatic identification and switching of dual-loop multiple working conditions through a complete closed loop of sensing, control, and execution.
The control module receives detection signals from temperature sensors and pressure sensors in real time, and controls the start, stop, and channel switching of electric two-way valves, three-way valves, fans, water pumps, and compressors in real time, so that the system automatically runs in the optimal mode according to real-time working conditions.
In addition, the system integrates automatic control functions for fluid replenishment and voltage stabilization, monitors pipeline pressure and liquid level in real time, and proactively performs fluid replenishment and voltage stabilization adjustment to reduce the frequency of manual maintenance. It is also equipped with a remote OTA function, which allows batch equipment to be pushed to unified push upgrades and synchronized updates, significantly reducing operation, maintenance and downtime costs, and efficiently completing software iteration and safety rectification of existing equipment.
Continuous evolution, open cooperation
This rooftop dual-circuit solution has been delivered to integrator partners before the Intersolar exhibition and has been successfully used in their turnkey energy storage projects. The rooftop installation, dual-circuit collaboration and multi-condition temperature control design have been verified in actual operation. Based on project operation data, the technical team continues to optimize the control strategy, and relevant experience has been fed back to subsequent iterations of the product.
Currently, the unit has passed CE (TÜV) certification. We look forward to working with domestic and foreign partners to jointly promote the progress and application of energy storage thermal management technology. We sincerely invite industry colleagues and experts from around the world to visit us for guidance, experience the excellent performance of our products, and discuss cooperation opportunities together.
