Advances in Heat Pipe Technologies for Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Management: A Comprehensive Review

Heat pipes and vapor chambers have emerged as compact, passive, high-conductivity thermal spreaders for lithium-ion battery thermal management systems (BTMS) in electric vehicles and stationary storage. This review synthesizes recent experimental, numerical and analytical studies on heat-pipe-based BTMS, focusing on different design variants (flat heat pipes, loop heat pipes, micro heat pipes, vapor chambers), wick structures and working-fluid combinations, integration strategies with phase-change materials and liquid cold plates, and practical implementation challenges. Important parameters affecting performance—heat generation rate, thermal contact resistance, wick capillarity, inclination, filling ratio, and condenser heat rejection—are tabulated and discussed. Governing models are presented, including Bernardi’s heat generation formulation for cells, thermal-resistance networks for flat heat pipes, and capillary and viscous limits governing maximum heat transport. To illustrate realistic performance, a representative parametric calculation is performed for 18650/21700 cells under varying C-rates showing step-by-step estimation of heat generation, heat pipe thermal resistance, and predicted cell temperature reduction. Results showed heat-pipe integration can reduce peak cell temperature by 5 – 15 °C and improve temperature uniformity significantly at high discharge/charge rates. The benefits diminish, if contact resistance or condenser heat rejection is poor. The different challenges in retaining the performance of the system have described precisely. This review aims to provide a concise roadmap for researchers and industry engineers seeking reliable, scalable, and efficient HP-BTMS solutions and practical deployment.