Cooling plate and battery thermal management system

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a cooling plate. A liquid flow channel of the cooling plate comprises a flow channel inlet section and a flow channel outlet section, a refrigerant enters the liquid flow channel through the flow channel inlet section and flows out through the flow channel outlet section, and the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section can exchange heat with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section. Through the design, the cooling plate can have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger, and the problems that the cost is increased, and the occupied space is large due to the fact that an intermediate heat exchanger and a connecting part which are complex in structure are additionally arranged are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a cooling plate and a battery thermal management system including the cooling plate, and more particularly to a cooling plate integrated with an intermediate heat exchanger function. Background Art

[0002] With the development of the automotive manufacturing industry towards electrification and intelligentization, the requirements for the integration and compactness of the battery thermal management system of automobiles are also getting higher and higher.

[0003] The battery thermal management system includes components such as a battery, a cooling plate, and an intermediate heat exchanger. The cooling plate has a two-plate structure, specifically including a flat plate and a grooved plate, which cooperate to form a flow channel in the cooling plate. Usually, the cooling plate and the intermediate heat exchanger with the above structure are arranged far from each other, and additional connecting components are required to fluidly connect the intermediate heat exchanger and the cooling plate, which results in a long fluid path, reduces the efficiency of the battery thermal management system, and increases the energy consumption of the vehicle. In addition, the additional connecting components also occupy a large space, which is not conducive to the integration of the battery thermal management system. Moreover, most of the intermediate heat exchangers are built by stacked plates, with complex structures and high prices.

[0004] Therefore, those skilled in the art are committed to developing a new type of cooling plate to solve the above-mentioned defects of the prior art. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a cooling plate with an intermediate heat exchanger function. By designing the cooling plate to include a fluidly connected flow channel inlet section, a cooling flow channel, and a flow channel outlet section, and the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section can exchange heat with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section, so that the cooling plate can have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger, avoiding problems such as increased costs and large space occupation caused by additionally setting up a complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components.

[0006] The present disclosure provides a cooling plate, and the liquid flow channel of the cooling plate includes: a flow channel inlet section and a flow channel outlet section, so that the refrigerant enters the liquid flow channel through the flow channel inlet section and flows out through the flow channel outlet section; wherein the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section can exchange heat with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section.

[0007] Through the above design of the cooling plate, the present disclosure can make the cooling plate have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger, avoiding problems such as increased costs and large space occupation caused by additionally setting up a complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components.

[0008] The cooling plate according to the present disclosure may also have one or more of the following features alone or in combination.

[0009] In one or more embodiments, the flow channel inlet section overlaps with the flow channel outlet section.

[0010] Through the above settings of the flow channel inlet section and the flow channel outlet section, the present disclosure can enable full heat exchange between the two, thereby improving the heat exchange efficiency between the two.

[0011] In one or more embodiments, the cooling flow channel further includes a guiding flow channel and a main cooling flow channel that are in fluid communication, wherein the guiding flow channel is connected between the flow channel inlet section and the main cooling flow channel, and the main cooling flow channel is connected between the guiding flow channel and the flow channel outlet section.

[0012] In one or more embodiments, the cooling plate has a stacked substrate, a main flow channel plate, and a sub-flow channel plate, wherein the substrate is disposed between the main flow channel plate and the sub-flow channel plate.

[0013] Through the above design of the cooling plate, the present disclosure can simplify the structure of the cooling plate, making it easy to manufacture and having a lower cost.

[0014] In one or more embodiments, a main groove is provided on the main flow channel plate to form the flow channel outlet section and the main cooling flow channel with the substrate.

[0015] In one or more embodiments, a sub-groove is provided on the sub-flow channel plate to form the flow channel inlet section and the guiding flow channel with the substrate.

[0016] In one or more embodiments, at least one opening is provided on the substrate, and the guiding flow channel is in fluid communication with the main cooling flow channel via the at least one opening.

[0017] In one or more embodiments, the flow channel inlet section includes a plurality of flow channels arranged in parallel, the guiding flow channel is a single flow channel, and the flow channels of the flow channel inlet section converge to the guiding flow channel.

[0018] Through the above setting of the flow channel inlet section, the present disclosure enables it to fully cover the flow channel outlet section and perform sufficient heat exchange with the flow channel outlet section.

[0019] In one or more embodiments, both the flow channel outlet section and the main cooling flow channel include a plurality of flow channels, and the number of flow channels in the main cooling flow channel is greater than the number of flow channels in the flow channel outlet section. The flow channels of the main cooling flow channel converge to the flow channels of the flow channel outlet section: the guiding flow channel does not overlap with the main cooling flow channel.

[0020] The present disclosure also provides a battery thermal management system, which includes: a battery; and the aforementioned cooling plate, wherein the cooling plate exchanges heat with the battery.

[0021] Through the above settings of the battery thermal management system, the present disclosure can simplify the structure of the battery thermal management system, improve the efficiency of the battery thermal management system, avoid problems such as increased costs and large occupied space caused by separately setting up a complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components, and at the same time can reduce the battery temperature and avoid overheating of the battery. Description of the Drawings

[0022] Figure 1 The top view of the cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 2 The bottom view of the cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure

[0024] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the sub-channel plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure:

[0025] Figure 4 The schematic diagram of the main-channel plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure:

[0027] Figure 6 The schematic diagram of the cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the substrate is a transparent member. Detailed Embodiments

[0028] The following illustrates the embodiments of the present disclosure through specific specific examples. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present disclosure from the content disclosed in this specification.

[0029] It should be noted that the structures, ratios, sizes, etc. shown in the attached drawings of this specification are only used to cooperate with the content disclosed in the specification for the understanding and reading of those skilled in the art, and are not used to limit the limiting conditions under which the present disclosure can be implemented. Therefore, they do not have technical essential meanings. Any modification of the structure, change of the proportional relationship, or adjustment of the size, without affecting the effects that the present disclosure can produce and the purposes that can be achieved, should still fall within the scope that the technical content disclosed in the present disclosure can cover. At the same time, the terms such as "upper" and "one" cited in this specification are only for the convenience of clear narration and are not used to limit the scope under which the present disclosure can be implemented. The change or adjustment of their relative relationships, without substantial change in the technical content, should also be regarded as the scope within which the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0030] To understand the present disclosure more clearly, the following specifically describes the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the attached drawings.

[0031] The present disclosure provides a cooling plate 1 integrated with the function of an intermediate heat exchanger. Please refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2, the cooling plate 1 has a liquid flow channel to allow a fluid such as a refrigerant to flow through the cooling plate 1. The liquid flow channel of the cooling plate 1 includes a flow channel inlet section 20 and a flow channel outlet section 30. The refrigerant can enter the liquid flow channel through the flow channel inlet section 20 and flow out through the flow channel outlet section 30, and the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section 20 can exchange heat with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section 30. Such a setting enables the cooling plate 1 to have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger, avoiding problems such as increased costs and excessive occupied volume caused by separately setting a structurally complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components.

[0032] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 , the liquid flow channel of the cooling plate 1 may further include a diversion flow channel 11 and a main cooling flow channel 12. The diversion flow channel 11 is connected between the flow channel inlet section 20 and the main cooling flow channel 12, and the main cooling flow channel 12 is connected between the diversion flow channel 11 and the flow channel outlet section 30, and the flow channel inlet section 20 and the flow channel outlet section 30 are overlapped, so as to effectively improve the heat exchange efficiency between the flow channel inlet section 20 and the flow channel outlet section 30.

[0033] Specifically, in this embodiment, the cooling plate 1 can be a three-plate structure, which has a simple structure, low cost, and is easy to manufacture. As Figures 1 to 5 shown, the cooling plate 1 can be composed of a stacked substrate 40, a main flow channel plate 50, and a sub-flow channel plate 60. The substrate 40 can be generally a rectangular flat plate (as Figure 5 shown), and is located between the main flow channel plate 50 and the sub-flow channel plate 60.

[0034] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 and Figure 3 , the sub-flow channel plate 60 can be generally strip-shaped, and has sub-grooves 61 provided thereon. The sub-flow channel plate 60 is stacked on the first side of the substrate 40 (for example, the upper side of the substrate 40, as Figure 1 shown), to cooperate with the substrate 40 to form the flow channel inlet section 20 and the diversion flow channel 11 of the cooling plate 1. One end of the flow channel inlet section 20 has an opening 21 penetrating the sub-flow channel plate 60 for docking an external component such as an electronic expansion valve to serve as the refrigerant inlet of the cooling plate 1. The other end of the flow channel inlet section 20 is connected to the diversion flow channel 11. In one embodiment, the flow channel inlet section 20 includes a plurality of flow channels arranged in parallel (as Figure 1 and Figure 3As shown, the present disclosure is described with three flow channels, but is not limited thereto. To fully cover the outlet section 30 of the flow channel and perform sufficient heat exchange therewith, and the above-mentioned flow channels in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel can make the gas-liquid mixed refrigerant after passing through the electronic expansion valve flow to the liquid flow channel of the cooling plate 1, especially to the diversion flow channel 11 of the liquid flow channel. The diversion flow channel 11 can be a single flow channel, and multiple flow channels in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel converge to this diversion flow channel 11 to converge and divert the refrigerant flowing through the inlet section 20 of the flow channel to the main cooling flow channel 12.

[0035] Please refer to Figure 2 and Figure 4 , the main flow channel plate 50 can be generally rectangular, and a main groove 51 is provided thereon. The main flow channel plate 50 is stacked on the second side of the substrate 40 (for example, the lower side of the substrate 40) to cooperate with the substrate 40 to form the outlet section 30 of the flow channel of the cooling plate 1 and the main cooling flow channel 12, wherein the second side of the substrate 40 is relative to the first side. One end of the outlet section 30 of the flow channel has an opening 31 penetrating through the main flow channel plate 50 for docking an external component such as a compressor to serve as the refrigerant outlet of the cooling plate 1. The other end of the outlet section 30 of the flow channel is connected to the main cooling flow channel 12. As Figure 5 shown, at least one opening 41 (the present disclosure is described with 6 openings 41, but is not limited thereto) can be provided on the substrate 40 for communicating the diversion flow channel 11 and the main cooling flow channel 12. That is to say, the main cooling flow channel 12 is fluidly connected to the diversion flow channel 11 via the opening 41, so that the diversion flow channel 11 can divert the refrigerant in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel to the main cooling flow channel 12 and then flow to the outlet section 30 of the flow channel. In an embodiment, both the outlet section 30 of the flow channel and the main cooling flow channel 12 include multiple flow channels arranged in parallel, and the number of flow channels in the main cooling flow channel 12 is greater than the number of flow channels in the outlet section 13 of the flow channel (the outlet section 13 of the flow channel in the present disclosure is described with three flow channels to coincide with the flow channels in the inlet section 12, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto). The refrigerant flowing through the main cooling flow channel 12 converges to the outlet section 30 of the flow channel and flows out of the cooling plate 1 via the opening 31.

[0036] To clearly show the positional relationship between the inlet section 20 and the outlet section 30 of the flow channel, as well as between the diversion flow channel 11 and the main cooling flow channel 12, Figure 6 the substrate 40 in the cooling plate 1 shown is a transparent member.

[0037] As Figure 6As shown, the flow channel inlet section 20 and the flow channel outlet section 30 of the cooling plate 1 are overlapped in a direction perpendicular to the base 40. Or rather, the flow channel inlet section 20 covers the flow channel outlet section 30, enabling the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section 20 to fully exchange heat with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section 30, improving the heat exchange efficiency between the two, and the above setting enables the cooling plate 1 to have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger. Specifically, compared with the flow channel outlet section 30, the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section 20 has a greater pressure and a higher temperature. Since the flow channel inlet section 20 covers the flow channel outlet section 30, the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section 20 will first be cooled by the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section 30, and then enter the main cooling flow channel 12 via the diversion flow channel 11 and the opening 41. In this way, the refrigerant entering the main cooling flow channel 12 can absorb more heat (for example, can absorb more heat from the externally arranged battery), improving the heat exchange efficiency. At the same time, the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section 30 will be heated by the refrigerant with a greater pressure and a higher temperature in the flow channel inlet section 20, increasing its superheat degree, enabling the refrigerant flowing out from the opening 31 to be completely vaporized, protecting the compressor docked with the opening 31, and effectively preventing liquid hammer of the compressor.

[0038] Please continue to refer to Figure 6 , the diversion flow channel 11 is located above one end of the main cooling flow channel 12 and is respectively fluidly connected to multiple flow channels of the main cooling flow channel 12 via at least one opening 41 (such as 6 openings 41 in the present disclosure) on the base plate 40. That is to say, in the top view of the cooling plate 1, the diversion flow channel 11 can be arranged to intersect (rather than completely overlap) with multiple flow channels of the main cooling flow channel 12, and the opening 41 on the base plate 40 is arranged at the intersection position. In this way, not only can the fluid connection between the diversion flow channel 11 and the main cooling flow channel 12 be realized, but also the diversion flow channel 11 can respectively divert the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section 20 into multiple flow channels of the main cooling flow channel 12.

[0039] The following will be combined with Figure 6 to illustrate the flow process and morphological changes of the refrigerant in the cooling plate 1.

[0040] The refrigerant after passing through, for example, an electronic expansion valve is a refrigerant in a gas-liquid mixed state with a relatively high temperature and high pressure. This gas-liquid mixed refrigerant can enter the inlet section 20 of the flow channel through the opening 21. Among them, the gas-liquid mixed refrigerant in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel will be cooled by the refrigerant in the outlet section 30 of the flow channel. The cooled refrigerant enters the main cooling channel 12 through the diversion flow channel 11 and the opening 41 of the substrate 40. Since the refrigerant needs to overcome resistance when flowing in the flow channel, the refrigerant has a pressure loss (i.e., the pressure of the refrigerant decreases), and the lower the pressure, the lower the temperature. Therefore, the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant will gradually decrease during the process of flowing through the main cooling channel 12. Since the battery (not shown) can be closely arranged adjacent to the cooling plate 1, especially adjacent to the first side of the substrate 40 where the sub-flow channel plate 60 is not stacked, this enables the refrigerant with gradually decreasing pressure and temperature in the main cooling channel 12 to exchange heat with the battery to reduce the temperature of the battery. It should be noted that, since the main cooling channel 12, especially the main groove 51, is densely arranged on the entire main flow channel plate 50, and the area of the main flow channel plate 50 is relatively large, during the process of flowing through the main cooling channel 12, the temperature decrease of the refrigerant will be greater than the temperature increase due to heat absorption from the battery. That is to say, even if the refrigerant in the main cooling channel 12 absorbs heat from the battery, the temperature of the refrigerant in the main cooling channel 12 will still be lower than the temperature in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel. Due to the temperature difference, and the refrigerant flowing through the main cooling channel 12 will enter the outlet section 30 of the flow channel, the refrigerant in the outlet section 30 of the flow channel can exchange heat with the refrigerant in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel. That is, the refrigerant in the outlet section 30 of the flow channel can absorb heat from the refrigerant in the inlet section 20 of the flow channel, so that the gas-liquid mixed refrigerant is fully converted into gaseous refrigerant. Subsequently, this gaseous refrigerant can flow out of the cooling plate 1 through the opening 31 and can enter a compressor docked with the opening 31, and liquid hammer of the compressor can be avoided.

[0041] Although the above embodiments of the present disclosure are described by taking the example that the inlet section 20 and the outlet section 30 of the flow channel are overlapped / coincided, however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the inlet section 20 and the outlet section 30 of the flow channel may not overlap but only be arranged close to each other, as long as the refrigerant in the inlet section 20 and the outlet section 30 of the flow channel can exchange heat to enable the cooling plate 1 to have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger.

[0042] The present disclosure provides a cooling plate. By designing the liquid flow channels of the cooling plate to include a flow channel inlet section and a flow channel outlet section that are fluidly connected, and allowing the refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section and the flow channel outlet section to exchange heat, the cooling plate can thus have the function of an intermediate heat exchanger, avoiding the problems of increased cost and large space occupation caused by additionally arranging a structurally complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components. At the same time, since the cooling plate is a three-plate structure, that is, the cooling plate is formed by stacking a base plate, a main flow channel plate, and a sub-flow channel plate, and the base plate is located between the main flow channel plate and the sub-flow channel plate, such an arrangement can simplify the structure of the cooling plate, making it easy to manufacture and having a lower cost.

[0043] The present disclosure also provides a battery thermal management system. The battery thermal management system includes a battery and the aforementioned cooling plate 1. The battery can be arranged on the cooling plate 1, especially on the first side of the base plate 40 where the sub-flow channel plate 60 is not stacked, so that the cooling plate 1 can exchange heat with the battery to reduce the battery temperature and avoid overheating of the battery. At the same time, since the battery thermal management system includes the aforementioned cooling plate 1, the structure of the battery thermal management system can be simplified, the efficiency of the battery thermal management system can be improved, and the problems of increased cost and large space occupation caused by separately arranging a structurally complex intermediate heat exchanger and connecting components can be avoided.

[0044] The above has described the exemplary embodiments of the cooling plate and the battery thermal management system integrated with the function of an intermediate heat exchanger provided by the present disclosure with reference to preferred embodiments. However, those skilled in the art can understand that, without departing from the concept of the present disclosure, various modifications and variations can be made to the above specific embodiments, and various combinations of the technical features and structures proposed by the present disclosure can be made, without exceeding the protection scope of the present disclosure. The protection scope of the present disclosure is determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cooling plate (1), characterized in that: The liquid flow channel of the cooling plate (1) comprises: a flow channel inlet section (20) and a flow channel outlet section (30), so that the refrigerant enters the liquid flow channel through the flow channel inlet section (20) and flows out through the flow channel outlet section (30); The refrigerant in the flow channel inlet section (20) can perform heat exchange with the refrigerant in the flow channel outlet section (30).

2. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that The flow channel inlet section (20) overlaps with the flow channel outlet section (30).

3. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that The liquid flow channel also includes a fluid-connected guide channel (11) and a main cooling channel (12), wherein the guide channel (11) is connected between the flow channel inlet section (20) and the main cooling channel (12), and the main cooling channel (12) is connected between the guide channel (11) and the flow channel outlet section (30).

4. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that The cooling plate (1) comprises a base plate (40), a main flow channel plate (50) and a sub-flow channel plate (60) which are stacked, wherein the base plate (40) is arranged between the main flow channel plate (50) and the sub-flow channel plate (60).

5. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that The main channel plate (50) is provided with a main groove (51) to form the channel outlet section (30) and the main cooling channel (12) together with the base plate (40).

6. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that The sub-channel plate (60) is provided with a sub-groove (61) to form the channel inlet section (20) and the flow guide channel (11) together with the base plate (40).

7. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that At least one opening (41) is provided on the base plate (40), and the flow guide channel (11) is fluidically connected to the main cooling channel (12) via the at least one opening (41).

8. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that The flow channel inlet section (20) comprises a plurality of flow channels arranged in parallel, the flow guide flow channel (11) is a flow channel, and the flow channels of the flow channel inlet section (20) converge into the flow guide flow channel (11).

9. The cooling plate (1) according to claim 8, characterized in that The flow channel outlet section (30) and the main cooling flow channel (12) both include a plurality of flow channels, and the number of flow channels of the main cooling flow channel (12) is greater than the number of flow channels of the flow channel outlet section (30), and the main cooling flow channel (12) converges into the flow channel of the flow channel outlet section (30); the guide flow channel (11) does not overlap with the main cooling flow channel (12).

10. A battery thermal management system, characterized in that: The battery thermal management system comprises: Battery: And The cooling plate (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the cooling plate (1) performs heat exchange with the battery.

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