Cooling plate and structure

Abstract

To provide a cooling plate which uses a resin plate in conjunction with a metal plate to achieve reduction of the weight and has the same level of cooling performance as a conventional metal cooling plate.SOLUTION: A cooling plate 10 includes: a resin plate 12 having ribs 13 in a refrigerant passage part 15; and a metal plate 11 which is provided facing the resin plate 12. An inlet and an outlet of a refrigerant formed by the ribs 13 are located adjacent to each other.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a cooling plate and structure. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, cooling plates are known for cooling heat-generating bodies such as batteries. Metals with high thermal conductivity are used for cooling plates, but cooling plates having a resin plate and a metal plate for weight reduction have also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7097975 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 7047137 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The cooling plates disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are light in weight due to the use of resin plates in some parts, but have a problem in that they are inferior in cooling performance to metal cooling plates.

[0005] The object of the present invention, made in consideration of the above circumstances, is to provide a cooling plate and structure that can achieve weight reduction by using a resin plate in addition, while having the same level of cooling performance as conventional metal cooling plates. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The gist of the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.

[0007] (1) A cooling plate through which a coolant flows, comprising: a resin plate having ribs in a flow path portion of the coolant; and a metal plate disposed opposite the resin plate, wherein an inlet and an outlet of the coolant formed by the ribs are adjacent to each other.

[0008] (2) The cooling plate according to claim 1, wherein the ribs are arranged so that the flows of the coolant are opposed to each other.

[0009] (3) The cooling plate of claim 2, wherein the ribs include a first rib and a second rib having a spiral shape, the first rib having a longer overall length than the second rib and being positioned outside the second rib.

[0010] (4) A structure comprising the cooling plate according to any one of (1) to (3) and a heat insulating material disposed on the rear surface of the resin plate. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cooling plate and structure that has the same level of cooling performance as a conventional metal cooling plate while achieving weight reduction by using a resin plate in combination. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a battery module equipped with a cooling plate according to the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a parts diagram of a cooling plate according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a plan view of a resin plate according to one embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a resin plate according to one embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the shape of a plate having straight ribs provided at the bottom of a conventional cooling plate. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 illustrates a simulation result of an average temperature of a cooling plate according to an embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a simulation result of temperature unevenness of a cooling plate according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that each drawing is merely a schematic illustration to allow a sufficient understanding of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples. Also, for convenience of illustration, the scales in each drawing may differ from the actual scales, and may not match between drawings.

[0014] An example of a battery module including a cooling plate according to the present invention is shown in Fig. 1. The battery module 1 shown in Fig. 1 includes a cooling plate 10 through which a coolant such as LLC (long life coolant) flows, and a plurality of battery cells 30.

[0015] The battery module 1 connects multiple battery cells 30 and supplies electric energy to a motor of an electric vehicle, etc. The battery module 1 also cools the battery cells 30, which are heat generating bodies, by flowing a refrigerant through a cooling plate 10 that contacts the battery cells 30.

[0016] An example of a component diagram of a cooling plate is shown in Fig. 2. The cooling plate 10 shown in Fig. 2 includes a metal plate 11 made of metal (e.g., aluminum) and a resin plate 12 having a coolant flow path portion 15 made of resin (e.g., polyamide resin). The resin is not particularly limited, but examples include industrially used resins such as polyamide. The resin plate 12 may be entirely made of resin, or may contain metal in portions other than the flow path portion 15.

[0017] The metal plate 11 is disposed opposite the resin plate 12 and in contact with the upper side of the resin plate 12 (the positive direction of the z axis shown in FIGS. 1 and 2).

[0018] The resin plate 12 has ribs 13 in the flow path portion 15. The ribs 13 are provided to allow the coolant to flow evenly and reduce temperature unevenness. The direction in which the coolant flows can be determined by the arrangement of the ribs 13. The arrows in the figure indicate the input and output of the coolant. The coolant may enter from an opening provided in the wall surface of the resin plate 12, or may enter from an opening provided in the top surface of the metal plate 11. The coolant may exit from an opening provided in the wall surface of the resin plate 12, or may exit from an opening provided in the top surface of the metal plate 11.

[0019] Although not shown in FIG. 2, a lightweight heat insulating material may be arranged so as to be in contact with the back surface (negative direction of the z-axis) of the resin plate 12. That is, the battery module 1 may have a structure having the cooling plate 10 and the heat insulating material. Examples of the heat insulating material include, but are not limited to, materials formed from thermoplastic resin foam, thermosetting resin foam, foamed rubber / elastomer, glass wool, rock wool, fiber-based heat insulating material, porous metal, porous ceramic, aerogel, and vacuum heat insulating material. In addition, in order to further improve the heat insulating performance, processing such as foaming can be performed. As the foaming processing method, a known method can be adopted.

[0020] By using resin for a portion of the cooling plate 10, the cooling plate is lighter than a cooling plate made entirely of metal. For example, the density of polyamide is about half that of aluminum. However, the thermal conductivity of resin is significantly lower than that of metal. In conventional cooling plates, the ribs are arranged parallel to the direction of the coolant flow, but in the present invention, the shape of the ribs 13 is devised to obtain cooling performance equivalent to that of a metal cooling plate. Injection molding increases the freedom of the shape of the ribs 13, making it possible to design a flow passage portion 15 with high cooling performance.

[0021] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the resin plate 12 according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a part of a perspective view of the resin plate 12 according to an embodiment. The resin plate 12 has a first wall surface 121 located on the inlet / outlet side of the refrigerant, a second wall surface 122 facing the first wall surface 121, a third wall surface 123, and a fourth wall surface 124 facing the third wall surface 123. The arrows in the figure indicate the direction in which the refrigerant flows, and the refrigerant enters from a first opening 125 provided in the first wall surface 121 and exits from a second opening 126 provided in the first wall surface 121. That is, the inlet (first opening 125) of the refrigerant formed by the rib 13 and the outlet (second opening 126) of the refrigerant formed by the rib 13 are adjacent to each other.

[0022] The ribs 13 are arranged so that the refrigerant flows in opposite directions (i.e., the refrigerant flows in opposite directions adjacent to each other). Specifically, the rib 13 has a first spiral rib 131 and a second spiral rib 132. In FIG. 3, the first rib 131 and the second rib 132 are obliquely drawn at different angles to make them easier to distinguish from each other. Note that the number of turns of the rib 13 is different between FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and the rib 13 shown in FIG. 4 has a larger number of turns. The first rib 131 has a longer overall length than the second rib 132, and is arranged outside the second rib 132. The first rib 131 and the second rib 132 start from the first wall surface 121 side. A first opening 125 is defined by the third wall surface 123 and the first rib 131, and a second opening 126 is defined by the first rib 131 and the second rib 132.

[0023] The temperature of the coolant flowing through the cooling plate 10 gradually increases from the inlet to the outlet due to the influence of the battery cells 30, which are heat generating bodies, but by arranging the ribs 13 in this manner, it is possible to make the cold flow and the warm flow face each other. In order to suppress temperature unevenness, it is preferable that the first rib 131 and the second rib 132 are arranged so that the flow path widths are equal. In addition, by reducing the thickness of the ribs 13, the area where the coolant comes into contact with the underside of the metal plate 11 can be increased, improving the cooling performance.

[0024] Two conventional cooling plates were prepared to compare and verify the cooling performance of the cooling plate 10 according to this embodiment. The first cooling plate uses an aluminum upper plate as the metal plate 11 and an aluminum lower plate having straight ribs instead of the resin plate 12, and is called "Straight Channel (Al)". The second cooling plate uses an aluminum upper plate as the metal plate 11 and a Leona lower plate having straight ribs instead of the resin plate 12, and is called "Straight Channel (Al / Leona)".

[0025] 5 shows the shape of a conventional lower plate 12' having straight-type ribs 13'. The lower plate 12' has a first wall surface 121' located on the inlet side of the refrigerant, a second wall surface 122' facing the first wall surface 121 and located on the outlet side of the refrigerant, a third wall surface 123', and a fourth wall surface 124' facing the third wall surface 123. The multiple ribs 13' are arranged parallel to the direction in which the refrigerant flows. That is, the multiple ribs 13' are arranged parallel to the third wall surface 123' and the fourth wall surface 124'.

[0026] FIG. 6 shows the simulation results of the average temperature of the cooling plate. The horizontal axis is the type of cooling plate, and the vertical axis is the average temperature [°C]. FIG. 7 shows the simulation results of the temperature unevenness [°C] of the cooling plate. The horizontal axis is the type of cooling plate, and the vertical axis is the temperature unevenness. Here, the temperature of the surface where the cooling plate 10 and the battery cell 30 come into contact, that is, the upper surface of the metal plate 11, was measured. The temperature unevenness indicates the difference between the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature. The cooling plate 10 equipped with the resin plate 12 of this embodiment is called "Counter Current". The material of the resin plate 12 was Leona.

[0027] In the simulation shown in Figures 6 and 7, the size of the cooling plate 10 was 86 mm x 559 mm, the thickness of the metal plate 11 was 1.5 mm, and the thickness of the wall surface of the resin plate 12 was 2.3 mm. The thickness of the ribs 13 was 1 mm, the height of the ribs 13 was 4 mm, and the flow path width was 3 mm. The environmental temperature was set to 23°C, and heat transfer by natural convection to the periphery was considered. Assuming a small natural convection, the heat transfer coefficient was 4 W / m 2 K. To represent the heat from the battery cell 30, a heat flux of 400 W was applied to the upper surface of the cooling plate 10. The coolant was water at 10° C., and the flow rate was 2.5 L / min.

[0028] The experimental results of Figures 6 and 7 are summarized in the following table. From these experimental results, it can be seen that the cooling plate 10 according to this embodiment has the same cooling performance as the conventional metallic cooling plate Straight Channel (Al). It can also be seen that the temperature unevenness is suppressed to about half that of the conventional metallic cooling plate Straight Channel (Al). [Table 1]

[0029] Although the above-mentioned embodiment has been described as a representative example, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and substitutions can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited by the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications or changes are possible without departing from the scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1 Battery Module 10 Cooling plate 11 Metal Plate 12 Resin plate 13 Ribs 15 Flow path 30 Battery Cells 121 First Wall 122 Second Wall 123 The Third Wall 124 The Fourth Wall 125 First Opening 126 Second Opening 131 First Rib 132 Second Rib

Claims

1. A cooling plate through which a coolant flows, a resin plate having ribs in the coolant flow passage portion; a metal plate provided opposite the resin plate, A cooling plate, the cooling medium inlet and outlet being adjacent to each other and defined by the ribs.

2. The cooling plate according to claim 1 , wherein the ribs are arranged so that the coolant flows in opposite directions.

3. The rib includes a first spiral rib and a second spiral rib, The cooling plate according to claim 2 , wherein the first rib has a total length longer than the second rib and is disposed outside the second rib.

4. A cooling plate according to claim 1 or 2; A heat insulating material disposed on a rear surface of the resin plate; A structure comprising:

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