Wide MPEs – aluminium profiles for battery cooling

MPEs are flat and rectangular aluminium tubes made of channels that increase the heat transfer through a higher surface-per-volume ratio.

E-car producers are interested in using wide MPEs for their battery cooling systems, because efficient cooling of the batteries can be guaranteed only when the entire surface of the battery cells is reached. Wide MPEs are used to cool between the batteries, rather than beneath the battery box.

But wide MPEs also are attractive for similar applications in industrial markets, such as harvesters in the agricultural segment, solar thermal systems, and for road construction machinery, where having a wide exposed area is a key asset for functionality. 

Wide MPEs:

• Range in width from 60-110 mm
• Weigh 180-220 g per meter
• Can be manufactured in special shapes to incorporate functional features such as conductive paste repository or management of multiple flows
• Compare favorably with both folded aluminium tubes, which do not provide the required tolerances, and copper tubes, which have a higher metal cost 
• Are produced on request with Hydro REDUXA, a low-carbon aluminium product

Wide MPEs are more difficult to produce than traditional-sized MPEs. Innovation in the manufacturing process, after several years of developmental work, has enabled us to commercialize the product.