Battery system for vehicle

Abstract

A battery system for a vehicle includes: a battery case in which a battery module is accommodated; an opening formed on a bottom portion of the battery case and exposing a bottom surface of the battery module to an outer side of the battery case; and a cooling block sealing the opening while forming a heat conducting state with the bottom surface of the battery module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a battery system mounted to a vehicle. Background Art

[0002] A hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle is equipped with a battery system to supply power to a motor that drives the vehicle.

[0003] The battery system includes a battery module including a plurality of battery cells, a battery case for packaging the battery module, a cooler for cooling the battery cells of the battery module, and the like.

[0004] The information included in this background of the disclosure is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the disclosure and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. Summary of the invention

[0005] Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a vehicle battery system that can more effectively cool battery cells accommodated in a battery case, facilitate simple manufacturing of the battery case and a cooling block, and improve maintainability.

[0006] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a battery system for a vehicle includes: a battery housing in which a battery module is accommodated; an opening formed on a bottom portion of the battery housing and exposing a bottom surface of the battery module to the outside of the battery housing; and a cooling block installed in a lower portion of the opening and forming a heat conduction state with the bottom surface of the battery module.

[0007] The battery housing may include: a lower housing, which is open upward to accommodate the battery module in the lower housing from top to bottom, and the lower housing is formed to surround the lower side of the battery module while having an opening formed on the bottom of the lower housing; and an upper housing, which is connected to the top portion of the lower housing to enclose the upper side of the battery module.

[0008] The battery module may include: a plurality of battery cells stacked on each other; and a plurality of cooling fins located between the plurality of battery cells and formed to perform heat exchange with the battery cells and with the cooling block.

[0009] The cooling fin may include a cell contact portion formed in a flat plate shape which is in surface contact with the battery cell and inserted between the plurality of battery cells, and a block contact portion extending downward from the cell contact portion and formed to contact a top surface of the cooling block.

[0010] The battery system may further include a thermal interface material pad (TIM) mounted between the cooling block and the block contact portion of the cooling fin.

[0011] The battery system may further include a sealing member disposed in an overlapping portion between the opening of the lower case and the cooling block.

[0012] The cooling block can be formed into a flat plate shape to seal the opening of the lower shell, and the cooling block includes a cooling channel through which the refrigerant circulates, and a plurality of fastening bolts are fastened to the outer portion of the cooling block while the cooling block is pressed against the lower shell and a sealing member is interposed between the cooling block and the lower shell.

[0013] The sealing member may include a cured-in-place gasket (CIPG) applied to at least one of the lower housing and the cooling block.

[0014] The sealing member may include a sealing gasket interposed and pressed between the lower housing and the cooling block.

[0015] The battery module may include a box-shaped member in which a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of cooling fins are stably maintained in a stacked state, and the cooling block may include a fastening portion located in a portion where no cooling channel exists, and a through bolt may pass through the fastening portion of the cooling block and be fastened to the box-shaped member of the battery module.

[0016] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a battery system for a vehicle may include: a battery housing; a cooling block disposed on one side of the battery housing; and a battery module including a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of cooling fins, and the plurality of battery cells and the plurality of cooling fins are stacked and configured to penetrate the battery housing and perform heat exchange with the cooling block.

[0017] The battery case may include: a lower case that is open upward to accommodate the battery module in the lower case from above and has a bottom surface for coupling with the cooling block; and an upper case that is coupled to the top portion of the lower case to surround the upper side of the battery module accommodated in the lower case.

[0018] The lower case may include an opening opened so that the cooling fins of the battery module may contact the cooling block, and the cooling block is installed in a lower portion of the opening of the lower case.

[0019] The cooling fin may include a cell contact portion inserted between the plurality of battery cells, and a block contact portion extending downward from the cell contact portion and formed to contact a top surface of the cooling block to be wider than the cell contact portion.

[0020] The battery system may further include a thermal interface material pad (TIM) mounted between the cooling fins and the cooling block.

[0021] The outer portion of the cooling block may be pressed against the lower housing by a plurality of fastening bolts, and a sealing member may be provided between the outer portion of the cooling block and the lower housing.

[0022] The battery module may include a box-shaped member in which a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of cooling fins are inserted, the cooling block may include at least one fastening portion, and a through bolt to be fastened to the box-shaped member passes through and is coupled to the fastening portion of the cooling block.

[0023] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, battery cells of a battery module accommodated in a battery case can be cooled more efficiently, the battery case and a cooling block are easy to manufacture, and maintainability is improved.

[0024] The methods and apparatus of the present disclosure have other features and advantages that will become apparent from or will be more fully described in the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description incorporated herein, which together serve to illustrate certain principles of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 shows a battery system for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure,

[0026] Figure 2 shows the cooling block with Figure 1 Separation of battery systems in the

[0027] Figure 3 It is along Figure 1 A cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

[0028] Figure 4 It is along Figure 1 A cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

[0029] Figure 5 It is along Figure 3 A cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG.

[0030] Figure 6 Shows the application to Figure 2 A cure in place gasket (CIPG) for the opening of the lower housing in the

[0031] Figure 7 Shows the settings in Figure 2 A sealing gasket is provided in the opening of the lower housing.

[0032] It is to be understood that the accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and that they present slightly simplified representations of the various features illustrating the basic principles of the present disclosure. The predetermined design features of the present disclosure included herein (including, for example, specific size, orientation, position, and shape) will be determined in part by the specific intended application and use environment.

[0033] In the drawings, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present disclosure throughout the several figures of the drawing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings and described below. Although the present disclosure will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that this specification is not intended to limit the present disclosure to those exemplary embodiments in the present disclosure. On the contrary, the present disclosure is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, but also various replacements, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments that may be included in the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

[0035] Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein even if the same or similar elements are described in different drawings, the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals and redundant description is omitted.

[0036] Suffixes “module” and “unit” following components in the following description are provided merely in consideration of ease of description and have no meanings or functions for discriminating one from another.

[0037] In describing the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, when the detailed description of the related art may make the subject matter of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure quite unclear, such detailed description will be omitted. In addition, the accompanying drawings are provided only for a better understanding of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the technical concept of the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be understood that the accompanying drawings include all modifications, equivalents and substitutes within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

[0038] Terms such as "first" and "second" may be used to describe various components, but these components should not be limited by these terms. In addition, these terms are only used to distinguish one component from another component.

[0039] When describing that one component is "connected" or "joined" to another component, it should be understood that one component can be directly connected or joined to another component, but other components may also exist between them. However, when one component is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another component, it should be understood that other components may not exist between one component and the other component.

[0040] Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, singular forms also include plural forms.

[0041] In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the terms “including” or “having” indicate the presence of the features, quantities, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof described in the exemplary embodiments, but do not exclude the possibility of pre-existence or addition of one or more other features, quantities, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0042] refer to Figures 1 to 7 A battery system for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a battery housing 3, in which a battery module 1 is accommodated; an opening 5, which is formed on a bottom portion of the battery housing 3 and through which a bottom surface of the battery module 1 is exposed; and a cooling block 7, which is arranged in a lower portion of the opening 5 and is formed to be in a heat conduction state with the bottom surface of the battery module 1.

[0043] In other words, the battery system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes a cooling block 7 configured to cool the bottom surface of the battery module 1 accommodated in the battery housing 3, wherein the cooling block 7 is arranged to be separated from the battery housing 3 and is an additional component installed to the battery housing 3, and the battery housing 3 is formed with an opening 5 for heat conduction between the cooling block 7 and the battery module 1.

[0044] Therefore, the battery case 3 does not separately include a built-in cooler for cooling the battery module 1 but includes a cooling block 7 mounted outside the battery case 3 to cool the battery module 1 accommodated in the battery case.

[0045] With this configuration, the battery case 3 and the cooling block 7 are easily manufactured, and improved maintainability of the cooling block 7 and the like is ensured.

[0046] The battery housing 3 includes: a lower housing 9 which is open upward to accommodate the battery module 1 in the lower housing from top to bottom, and the lower housing is formed to surround the lower side of the battery module 1 while forming an opening 5 on the bottom of the lower housing; and an upper housing 11 which is connected to the top portion of the lower housing 9 to enclose the upper side of the battery module 1.

[0047] Therefore, the lower housing 9 is manufactured into a simple shape whose size is set to be sufficient to accommodate the battery module 1 therein, and includes an opening 5 formed on its bottom surface, thereby having a weight reduction effect. In addition, when the opening 5 is properly sealed by the cooling block 7, the watertightness of the battery housing 3 is ensured.

[0048] The battery module 1 includes: a plurality of battery cells 13 stacked on each other; and a plurality of cooling fins 15 located between the plurality of battery cells 13 and formed to perform heat exchange with the battery cells 13 and with the cooling block 7 .

[0049] The cooling fin 15 includes: a cell contact portion 17 formed in a flat plate shape, which is in surface contact with the battery cell 13 and inserted between the plurality of battery cells 13; and a block contact portion 19 extending downward from the cell contact portion 17 and formed to contact the top surface of the cooling block 7.

[0050] Therefore, the cell contact portion 17 of the cooling fin 15 effectively absorbs the heat generated by the battery cell 13 and transfers the heat to the block contact portion 19 , and the block contact portion 19 exchanges heat with the cooling block 7 , ultimately achieving effective cooling of the battery cell 13 .

[0051] A thermal interface material (TIM) pad 20 may be located between the cooling block 7 and the block contact portion 19 of the cooling fin 15 .

[0052] Therefore, without a minute gap between the cooling block 7 and the block contact portion 19 , a more efficient heat conduction state is formed, thereby producing an excellent effect on cooling the battery cells 13 .

[0053] A sealing member 21 is provided in an overlapping portion between the opening 5 of the lower housing 9 and the cooling block 7 .

[0054] In addition, the cooling block 7 is formed into a flat plate shape to seal the opening 5 of the lower shell 9, and the cooling block includes a cooling channel 23 through which the refrigerant circulates, and a plurality of fastening bolts 25 are fastened to the outer portion of the cooling block 7 in a state where the cooling block is pressed against the lower shell and the sealing member 21 is interposed between the cooling block 7 and the lower shell 9.

[0055] Therefore, by tightening the bolts 25 so that the sealing member 21 is interposed between the cooling block 7 and the lower shell 9, the cooling block is pressed against the lower shell to seal the opening 5 of the lower shell 9 into a completely watertight state, and the cooling block is in close contact with the cooling fins 15 of the battery module 1 to ensure higher thermal conductivity.

[0056] The sealing member 21 may include a cured-in-place gasket (CIPG) 27 applied to at least one of the lower housing 9 and the cooling block 7 .

[0057] For reference, Figure 6 The CIPG 27 is shown applied to the lower housing 9 .

[0058] Furthermore, the sealing member 21 may include a separate sealing gasket 29 which is made of rubber, silicone, etc. and is interposed and pressed between the lower housing 9 and the cooling block 7 .

[0059] Figure 7 The sealing gasket 29 is shown in close contact with the periphery of the opening 5 of the lower housing 9, wherein the cooling block 7 is not shown.

[0060] At the same time, the battery module 1 includes a box-shaped member 31, in which multiple battery cells 13 and multiple cooling fins 15 are stably maintained in a stacked state, and the cooling block 7 includes a fastening portion 33, which is located in a portion where the cooling channel 23 does not exist, and a through bolt 35 passes through the fastening portion 33 of the cooling block 7 and is fastened to the box-shaped member 31 of the battery module 1.

[0061] Therefore, close contact between the cooling block 7 and the cooling fins 15 of the battery module 1 is stably ensured while the central portion of the cooling block 7 is prevented from sagging.

[0062] For reference, the refrigerant circulates through the cooling channel 23 of the cooling block 7 , thereby effectively discharging the heat transferred from the battery module 1 to the outside thereof.

[0063] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the battery system configured as described above can be installed on the bottom portion of the vehicle, and thus has the effect of cooling the battery case 3 and the cooling block 7 using wind generated by vehicle travel, thereby further improving the cooling efficiency of the battery module 1.

[0064] The present disclosure described above can also be expressed as follows.

[0065] In other words, a battery system for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a battery housing 3; a cooling block 7, which is arranged on one side of the battery housing 3; and a battery module 1, including a plurality of battery cells 13 and a plurality of cooling fins 15, and the plurality of battery cells and the plurality of cooling fins are stacked and configured to penetrate the battery housing 3 and perform heat exchange with the cooling block 7.

[0066] The battery housing 3 may include: a lower housing 9, which is open upward to accommodate the battery module 1 in the lower housing from top to bottom, and the lower housing includes a bottom surface for connecting to the cooling block 7; and an upper housing 11, which is connected to the top portion of the lower housing 9 to surround the upper side of the battery module 1 accommodated in the lower housing 9.

[0067] The lower case 9 may include an opening 5 opened so that the cooling fins 15 of the battery module 1 may contact the cooling block 7 , and the cooling block 7 may be coupled to seal the opening 5 of the lower case 9 .

[0068] The cooling fin 15 may include a cell contact portion 17 inserted between the plurality of battery cells 13 , and a block contact portion 19 extending downward from the cell contact portion 17 and formed to contact the top surface of the cooling block 7 to be wider than the cell contact portion 17 .

[0069] A thermal interface material (TIM) pad 20 may be located between the cooling fins 15 and the cooling block 7 .

[0070] The outer portion of the cooling block 7 may be pressed against the lower housing 9 by a plurality of fastening bolts 25 , and a sealing member 21 may be provided between the outer portion of the cooling block 7 and the lower housing 9 .

[0071] The battery module 1 may include a box-shaped member 31 in which a plurality of battery cells 13 and a plurality of cooling fins 15 are inserted, the cooling block 7 may include at least one fastening portion 33, and a through bolt 35 to be fastened to the box-shaped member 31 may pass through and be connected to the fastening portion 33 of the cooling block 7.

[0072] For ease of description and accuracy in the appended claims, the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "up", "lower", "upward", "downward", "front", "rear", "back", "inside", "outside", "inward", "outward", "inner", "outer", "inner", "external", "forward", and "rearward" are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the locations of these features shown in the drawings. It should also be understood that the term "connect" or its derivatives refers to both direct and indirect connections.

[0073] The term "and / or" may include a combination of multiple related listed items or any one of the multiple related listed items. For example, "A and / or B" includes all three cases, such as "A", "B", and "A and B".

[0074] In this specification, unless otherwise stated, a singular expression includes a plural expression unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0075] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, “at least one of A and B” may mean “at least one of A or B” or “at least one combination of multiple combinations of at least one of A and B”. In addition, “one or more of A and B” may mean “one or more of A or B” or “one or more combinations of multiple combinations of one or more of A and B”.

[0076] In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that terms such as “including” or “having” are intended to indicate the presence of features, quantities, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and do not exclude the possibility of adding or existing one or more other features, quantities, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0077] According to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a plurality of components may be combined with each other to be implemented as one embodiment, or some components may be omitted.

[0078] The foregoing description of specific exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure has been provided for the purpose of illustration and description. These embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, and it is apparent that various modifications and variations may be made in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments are selected and described to illustrate certain principles of the present invention and their practical applications, so that other persons skilled in the art can make and utilize the various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and various substitutions and modifications thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is intended to be defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A battery system for a vehicle, the battery system comprising: a battery housing in which a battery module is accommodated; an opening formed on a bottom portion of the battery case and exposing a bottom surface of the battery module to an outside of the battery case; as well as A cooling block is installed in a lower portion of the opening and forms a heat conduction state with a bottom surface of the battery module.

2. The battery system according to claim 1, wherein: The battery housing comprises: a lower case including the opening, the lower case opening upward to accommodate the battery module in the lower case from above downward, and the lower case being formed to surround a lower side of the battery module; and An upper case is coupled to a top portion of the lower case to enclose an upper side of the battery module.

3. The battery system according to claim 1, wherein: The battery module comprises: a plurality of battery cells stacked one on top of the other; and A plurality of cooling fins are located between the battery cells and are formed to perform heat exchange with the battery cells and with the cooling block.

4. The battery system according to claim 3, wherein: Each of the cooling fins comprises: a cell contact portion formed in a flat plate shape, the cell contact portion being in surface contact with the battery cells and interposed between the battery cells; and A block contact portion extends downward from the unit contact portion and is formed to contact a top surface of the cooling block. 5 . The battery system of claim 4 , further comprising a thermal interface material pad mounted between the cooling block and the block contact portion of each of the cooling fins. 6 . The battery system according to claim 2 , further comprising a sealing member provided in an overlapping portion between the opening of the lower case and the cooling block.

7. The battery system according to claim 6, in, The cooling block is formed in a flat plate shape to seal the opening of the lower housing, and the cooling block includes at least one cooling channel through which a refrigerant circulates, and wherein a plurality of fastening bolts are fastened to an outer portion of the cooling block in a state where the cooling block is pressed against the lower housing and the sealing member is interposed between the cooling block and the lower housing.

8. The battery system according to claim 7, wherein: The sealing member includes a cured-in-place gasket applied to at least one of the lower housing and the cooling block.

9. The battery system according to claim 7, wherein: The sealing member includes a sealing gasket interposed and pressed between the lower housing and the cooling block.

10. The battery system according to claim 7, in, The battery module includes a box-shaped member in which a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of cooling fins are held in a stacked state. wherein the cooling block comprises a fastening portion, the fastening portion being located in a portion where the at least one cooling channel does not exist, and Wherein, the through bolt passes through the fastening portion of the cooling block and is fastened to the box-shaped member of the battery module.

11. The battery system according to claim 10, wherein: The fastening portion is located in a central portion of the cooling block.

12. A battery system for a vehicle, the battery system comprising: Battery housing; A cooling block is disposed on one side of the battery housing; as well as The battery module includes a plurality of battery cells and a plurality of cooling fins, wherein the plurality of battery cells and the plurality of cooling fins are stacked and penetrate the battery housing and perform heat exchange with the cooling block.

13. The battery system according to claim 12, wherein: The battery housing comprises: a lower case which is opened upward to accommodate the battery module in the lower case from above downward, and the lower case includes a bottom surface for coupling with the cooling block; and An upper case is coupled to a top portion of the lower case to surround an upper side of the battery module accommodated in the lower case.

14. The battery system according to claim 13, in, The lower housing includes an opening, the opening being open to allow the cooling fins of the battery module to pass through the opening and contact the cooling block, Wherein, the cooling block is installed in a lower portion of the opening of the lower shell.

15. The battery system according to claim 14, wherein: Each of the cooling fins comprises: a cell contact portion interposed between the battery cells; and A block contact portion extends downward from the cell contact portion and is formed to be wider than the cell contact portion to contact a top surface of the cooling block. 16 . The battery system of claim 14 , further comprising a thermal interface material pad mounted between the cooling fins and the cooling block.

17. The battery system according to claim 14, in, The outer portion of the cooling block is pressed against the lower housing by a plurality of fastening bolts, and Wherein, a sealing member is provided between the outer portion of the cooling block and the lower shell.

18. The battery system according to claim 17, in, The battery module includes a box-shaped member, in which a plurality of the battery cells and a plurality of the cooling fins are inserted, wherein the cooling block comprises at least one fastening portion, and Wherein, a through bolt to be fastened to the box-shaped member passes through and is coupled to at least one of the fastening portions of the cooling block.

19. The battery system according to claim 18, in, At least one of the fastening portions is located in a portion where at least one cooling channel is not present, and Wherein, at least one of the fastening portions is also located in a central portion of the cooling block.

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