Compensation container and battery cooling system

Abstract

To provide a compensation container for battery cooling that is light-weight and inexpensive and has a desiccant agent cartridge, and a battery cooling system including such a compensation container.SOLUTION: A compensation container for a battery cooling system (1) comprises: a container housing (4) that includes a first shell and a second shell coupled to the first shell and is formed of plastic, wherein a first housing part (7) is formed in the first shell and / or the second shell; a desiccant agent cartridge (8) that is housed in the first housing part (7) in a shape coupling form; a first valve (9) that, when excessive pressure dominates the inside of the compensation container (1), causes air (2) to flow out of the compensation container (1) to the circumference; and a second valve (10) that, when negative pressure dominates the inside of the compensation container (1), causes fresh air (2a) to flow into the compensation container (1) from the circumference.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a compensation container for a battery cooling system. The present invention further relates to a battery cooling system provided with such a compensation container.

[0002] Electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles are attracting increasing attention from consumers based on environmental considerations and are becoming more widespread on the roads accordingly. In this case, in order to be able to improve both the driving range and performance of such electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, it is targeted to keep the traction battery of such electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles within an optimal temperature window with respect to this traction battery. For this purpose, in a well-known manner, a temperature control device, in particular a cooling device, is used. In this case, in order to achieve particularly efficient cooling, so-called immersion cooling is also used, in which a dielectric, i.e., non-conductive, cooling medium flows around the individual battery cells of the traction battery.

[0003] In this case, such a battery cooling system, in particular for cooling a traction battery, also includes a compensation container in which air is held internally as a compensation cushion for volume changes of the cooling medium due to temperature. When the cooling medium expands due to a temperature increase, this would result in a high pressure load in the compensation container if the resulting overpressure could not be released, which could damage the compensation container in some cases and therefore must be avoided. For this reason, such a compensation container usually has a connection to the surroundings, whereby the pressure difference due to temperature can optionally be reduced via the blowing out of air to the surroundings. When the cooling medium is cooled and contracts, this results in a negative pressure in the compensation container, which results in the suction of fresh air from the surroundings. In order to prevent or at least reduce the introduction of unwanted moisture into the cooling medium at this time, conventionally, a so-called desiccant cartridge is provided, in which fresh air sucked in from the surroundings during the suction process flows through, and a drying medium for absorbing moisture and drying the sucked-in fresh air is arranged.

[0004] However, a drawback of such desiccant cartridges is that these desiccant cartridges have a housing made of a thin metal sheet, which makes them not only heavy but also relatively expensive. Furthermore, a threaded nipple for screwing the desiccant cartridge into the compensation container had to be provided. Such a threaded nipple made of a thin metal sheet is also similarly expensive.

[0005] Accordingly, the present invention addresses the problem of providing an improved or at least one alternative embodiment for the compensation container that can overcome the drawbacks known from the prior art.

[0006] This problem is solved by the subject matter of independent claim 1 according to the present invention. Advantageous embodiments are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

[0007] The present invention is not formed by providing a desiccant cartridge with a housing made of a thin metal plate as in the conventional practice, and disposing this desiccant cartridge via a threaded nipple that is difficult to manufacture and thus expensive, particularly in a container housing of a compensation container for air in a battery cooling system. Instead, the container housing of a compensation container for air or a cooling medium for a battery cooling system is formed as an inexpensive two-shell plastic housing, and a desiccant cartridge is incorporated into this plastic housing as an insertion member. This is based on the general idea. In this case, the compensation container is used to buffer the air volume based on the volume change caused by the temperature of the cooling medium, particularly oil. In this case, the compensation container according to the present invention for a battery cooling system, particularly for air, has a plastic container housing including the above-described first shell and a second shell tightly coupled to the first shell. In this case, a first accommodation portion is formed in the first shell and / or the second shell, in which the above-described desiccant cartridge provided with a drying medium, such as zeolite or silica gel, is accommodated in a form-fitting manner. Further, a first valve capable of blowing air from the compensation container to the surroundings when an overpressure dominates inside the compensation container, and a second valve capable of sucking fresh air from the surroundings into the compensation container when a negative pressure dominates inside the compensation container are provided. In this case, the concept of "fresh air" can mean / means ambient air. By forming the container housing of the compensation container, in which a non-replaceable desiccant cartridge is preferably disposed inside, into a two-shell type, an extremely inexpensive container housing of the compensation container can be provided as a whole. In this case, an assembly advantage can also be obtained at the same time. This is because it is only necessary to insert the desiccant cartridge formed as an insertion member into the first accommodation portion of the first and / or second shell in a form-fitting manner, and then tightly couple both shells of the container housing to each other. Thereby, an arrangement protected over the service life of the desiccant cartridge in the container housing can also be achieved. Thereby, the manufacture of the container housing required conventionally and the subsequent attachment of the desiccant cartridge can be completely omitted. In this case, the manufacture of the compensation container according to the present invention can even be performed particularly in an automated manner.This is because, based on the inner contour of the first receiving portion, which is formed substantially complementary to the outer contour of the desiccant cartridge, the form-fitting insertion of the desiccant cartridge into the first receiving portion can be performed without the need for an operator for this purpose. By arranging both the first valve and the second valve in the container housing, both of these valves can also be replaced together during the periodic replacement of the desiccant cartridge and thus during the periodic replacement of the container housing, thereby reliably avoiding, for example, the blockage of the valves that occurs based on extremely long use.

[0008] In one advantageous refinement of the compensation container according to the invention, a second receiving portion is formed in the first shell and / or the second shell, and an activated carbon cartridge is form-fittingly received in the second receiving portion. In this case, such an activated carbon cartridge can adsorb harmful substances such as hydrocarbons, for example. Thus, when the inside of the compensation container is dominated by overpressure, the air blown out through the activated carbon cartridge can be purified and the blowing out of hydrocarbons can be avoided. By form-fittingly receiving the activated carbon cartridge in the second receiving portion of the first and / or second shell, the activated carbon cartridge, like the desiccant cartridge, can be preferably inserted automatically into the second receiving portion before the two shells are joined to each other. Thereby, a protected arrangement of the activated carbon cartridge in the container housing can also be achieved.

[0009] In one advantageous refinement of the compensation container according to the invention, the first valve is arranged in an intermediate wall separating the second receiving portion from the inner chamber of the container housing. In this case, air is usually arranged in the inner chamber of the container housing, and pressure or negative pressure is applied to the air according to the temperature of the cooling medium by the expansion or contraction of the cooling medium. By arranging the first valve in the intermediate wall separating the second receiving portion from the inner chamber of the container housing, a direct corresponding arrangement of the first valve with respect to the second receiving portion can be achieved. Naturally, on the downstream side of the second receiving portion, an opening to the outside is provided in the wall of the container housing for exchange with the surroundings.

[0010] In this case, a second valve is arranged on the outer wall of the container housing, and in this case, the outer wall where the second valve is arranged separates the first accommodating portion from the surroundings. Therefore, when a negative pressure prevails inside the container housing or the compensation container, the suction of fresh air from the surroundings is performed through the second valve and the first accommodating portion where the desiccant cartridge is arranged. That is, the fresh air sucked in from the surroundings is sucked in and dried by the drying medium of the desiccant cartridge, and thereby, in particular, it is possible to prevent moisture and / or water from being introduced into the compensation container. Extremely high moisture content may make the cooling medium conductive, which, in an undesirable situation, especially in the case of immersion cooling, may lead to a short circuit.

[0011] In this case, the above-mentioned second valve may be formed as a double valve that also enables air to be blown out from the container housing to the surroundings.

[0012] In one particularly preferred embodiment, a spring is provided in the first or second accommodating portion, and this spring preloads the desiccant cartridge or the activated carbon cartridge against the container housing. Through such a spring, a securely positioned arrangement of the desiccant cartridge in the first accommodating portion and the activated carbon cartridge in the second accommodating portion can be achieved. In this case, the spring preload simultaneously prevents the desiccant cartridge and / or the activated carbon cartridge from generating rattling noises that are, for example, uncomfortably felt during operation. Such a spring may be formed, for example, as an inexpensive coil spring. In this case, the coil spring may be arranged to preload the desiccant cartridge in the first accommodating portion, and thereby, the coil spring is position-fixed by the second valve by surrounding the second valve provided on the outer wall of the container housing. Since the spring preload also compresses the desiccant granules or the activated carbon in the same way, there is no room for the desiccant granules or the activated carbon to move, and there is no risk of abrasion / wear.

[0013] In one particularly preferred embodiment of the compensation container according to the invention, the first shell and / or the second shell are formed as plastic injection molded parts. In this case, forming the first and / or the second shell as plastic injection molded parts not only enables the container housing and thus the compensation container to be manufactured with high quality, but also brings the great advantage that they can be manufactured at low cost.

[0014] Preferably, the first shell and the second shell are welded to each other. If both shells are formed as plastic injection molded parts, welding these shells to each other can be considered to tightly bond both shells. Alternatively, of course, it is also conceivable to bond both shells to each other. Also alternatively, purely theoretically, it is also conceivable that both shells are joined to each other via a clip connection or a screw fastening, which brings the great advantage that the container housing can be opened to replace the desiccant cartridge or the activated carbon cartridge, and after replacing the desiccant cartridge or the activated carbon cartridge, this container housing can still be used. In this case, a seal must be inserted between both shells.

[0015] In another advantageous embodiment of the compensation container according to the invention, the first shell and / or the second shell are formed from polyoxymethylene (POM). POM is a partially crystalline thermoplastic resin with high mechanical strength and rigidity, as well as high wear resistance and low hygroscopicity, which is particularly advantageous when used in the compensation container according to the invention. This is because in this case, water storage or hygroscopicity increases the conductivity of the dielectric cooling medium. Polyketone is also suitable as a material for the first and / or the second shell. In this case, the plastic may contain glass fibers, particularly 25% glass fibers, in order to further increase the mechanical strength and wear resistance, and may particularly be formed as POM GF-25.

[0016] The present invention further relates to the general idea of equipping a battery cooling system with the compensation container described in the preceding paragraph, thereby transferring the advantages described for this compensation container to the battery cooling system. Specifically, the advantage of the battery cooling system equipped with the compensation container according to the present invention lies in inexpensive manufacturing, in which case, only the compensation container needs to be replaced for the periodic replacement of the desiccant cartridge and / or the activated carbon cartridge.

[0017] Other important features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the dependent claims, the drawings, and the description of the drawings based on the accompanying drawings.

[0018] It is obvious that the above-described features and the features described hereinafter can be used not only in the described combinations but also in other combinations or alone without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the above-described components and the components described hereinafter that are separately described as a higher-level aggregate such as a device, equipment, or unit may form separate components or components of this aggregate even if they are shown differently in the drawings, or may be an integrated area or section of this aggregate.

[0019] Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated and will be described in more detail in the following description. In this case, the same reference numerals are related to the same, or similar, or functionally identical components.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

[0021] Corresponding to FIGS. 1 to 3, the compensation container 1 according to the present invention for the air 2 of the battery cooling system 3 according to the present invention has a container housing 4 made of plastic, which includes a first shell 5 and a second shell 6 coupled to the first shell 5. In this case, a first accommodation portion 7 (see FIG. 3) is provided or formed in the first shell 5 and / or the second shell 6, and a desiccant cartridge 8 is disposed in the first accommodation portion 7 in a form-fitting manner. A drying medium (not shown in detail) is disposed in the desiccant cartridge 8. Furthermore, the compensation container 1 according to the present invention has a first valve 9, and when the inside of the compensation container 1 is dominated by an excessive pressure, the air 2 can be blown out from the compensation container 1 to the surroundings through the first valve 9. When the inside of the compensation container 1 is dominated by a negative pressure, fresh air 2a flows into the compensation container 1 from the surroundings through a second valve 10.

[0022] A second accommodation portion 11 is further formed in the first shell 5 and / or the second shell 6, and an activated carbon cartridge 12 is accommodated in the second accommodation portion 11 in a form-fitting manner. That is, the illustrated compensation container 1 has a container housing 4 in which two accommodation portions 7, 11 are arranged inside, and a desiccant cartridge 8 or an activated carbon cartridge 12 is disposed in these accommodation portions 7, 11. When the inside of the compensation container 1 is dominated by an excessive pressure, the air 2 thus flows through the first valve 9 and the activated carbon cartridge 12 disposed in the second accommodation portion 11 to the surroundings outside. For this purpose, for example, the second valve 10 may be formed as a double valve, which also enables the air 2 to be blown out from the compensation container 1 to the surroundings outside. By blowing out the air 2 through the activated carbon cartridge 12, harmful substances such as hydrocarbons can be reliably retained, in particular. In this case, the suction of the fresh air 2a from the surroundings into the compensation container 1 is performed through the second valve 10 and the desiccant cartridge 8, and the sucked fresh air 2a is dried in the desiccant cartridge 8.

[0023] In this case, the first valve 9 is arranged on an intermediate wall 13 that separates the second accommodating portion 11 from the inner chamber 16 of the container housing 4. In this case, a second valve 10, which may be formed as a double valve, i.e., a valve that is permeable in both directions, is arranged on the outer wall of the container housing 4 that separates the first accommodating portion 7 from the surroundings. Naturally, on the outer wall of the container housing 4, the above-mentioned second valve 10 and another pressure relief valve may be arranged, and through the other pressure relief valve, the air 2 is blown out from the compensation container 1 to the surroundings.

[0024] Continuing to refer to FIG. 3, springs 14 are provided in the first accommodating portion 7 and the second accommodating portion 11 respectively. This spring 14 applies a preload to the desiccant cartridge 8 with respect to the container housing 4, and similarly, it is recognized that a preload is also applied to the activated carbon cartridge 12 with respect to the container housing 4, specifically to the intermediate wall 13 here. By both springs 14, the position fixation of the desiccant cartridge 8 and the activated carbon cartridge 12 in each accommodating portion 7, 11 without vibration, and thus without rattling, can be achieved. Thereby, an improvement in user comfort can be achieved, especially based on the relatively low noise generation.

[0025] In this case, the first shell 5 and / or the second shell 6 may be formed as plastic injection molded parts, which not only enables high quality but also inexpensive manufacturing. In this case, the two shells 5, 6 may be welded or adhered to each other. In this case, purely theoretically, it is also conceivable that the two shells 5, 6 are joined to each other via a clip connection or a screw fastening. This brings the great advantage that after opening the container housing 4 to replace the desiccant cartridge 8 or the activated carbon cartridge 12 and replacing the desiccant cartridge 8 or the activated carbon cartridge 12, the container housing 4 can continue to be used.

[0026] In this case, the first shell 5 and / or the second shell 6 may be formed from polyoxymethylene (POM), i.e., a plastic having high strength and low hygroscopicity, which is extremely advantageous especially for the compensation container 1 for the air 2 of the battery cooling system 3. In this case, in order to further improve the strength and wear resistance of the container housing 4, the plastics of both shells 5, 6 may be reinforced with fibers, especially glass fibers.

[0027] In short, the compensation container 1 according to the present invention and the battery cooling system 3 according to the present invention can provide a configuration that is extremely inexpensive compared to a desiccant cartridge provided with a thin metal plate housing.

[0028] Next, an embodiment of a compensation container 1' corresponding to FIG. 4 and not included in the present invention will be briefly described. In FIG. 4, the same reference numerals are used for the same components, but each is provided with an apostrophe.

[0029] Corresponding to FIG. 4, the compensation container 1' not included in the present invention also has a container housing 4' made of aluminum provided with a desiccant cartridge 8' and an activated carbon cartridge 12'. In this case, a first valve 9' is arranged in the region of the activated carbon cartridge 12'. Thereby, when an overpressure dominates inside the container housing 4', air 2' can be blown out to the surroundings via the first valve 9' and the activated carbon cartridge 12'. When a negative pressure dominates inside the compensation container 4', fresh air 2a' can be sucked in from the surroundings via the second valve 10'. The fresh air 2a' sucked in at this time flows through the desiccant cartridge 8'.

[0030] In FIG. 4, the container housing 4' is formed at least partially as an aluminum extrusion part. In this case, the longitudinal end sides of the container housing 4' are sealed by two end caps 15' also formed from aluminum. The end caps 15' are removably attached to the container housing 4', for example. Thereby, the replacement of the desiccant cartridge 8' and / or the activated carbon cartridge 12' can be carried out simply by removing the end caps 15' and then reattaching the end caps 15' without replacing the container housing 4'. A corresponding spring 14' applies a preload to the desiccant cartridge 8' or the activated carbon cartridge 12' with respect to the container housing 4', whereby it can be held without rattling.

Claims

1. A compensation container (1) for a battery cooling system (3), comprising: A container housing (4) made of plastic with a first shell (5) and a second shell (6) connected to the first shell (5), a first receiving portion (7) being formed in the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6); a desiccant cartridge (8) accommodated in the first accommodation portion (7) in a form-fitting manner; a first valve (9) through which air (2) leaves the compensation vessel (1) to the surroundings in the event of overpressure prevailing in the compensation vessel (1); a second valve (10) through which fresh air (2a) flows from the surroundings into the compensation vessel (1) when a negative pressure prevails in the compensation vessel (1); The compensation vessel (1).

2. A second container (11) is formed in the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6), The second container (11) contains an activated carbon cartridge (12) in a form-fitting manner. The compensation container according to claim 1.

3. 3. The compensation vessel according to claim 2, wherein the first valve (9) is arranged in an intermediate wall (13) separating the second receiving part (11) from the inner space (16) of the vessel housing (4).

4. 4. The compensation container according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a spring (14) for preloading the desiccant cartridge (8) or the activated carbon cartridge (12) against the container housing (4).

5. 5. The compensation container according to claim 1, wherein the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6) are formed as plastic injection molded parts.

6. 6. The compensation vessel according to claim 1, wherein the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6) are welded, clipped, screwed or glued to one another.

7. 7. Compensation container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6) are made from polyoxymethylene (POM) or polyketone.

8. 8. The compensation container according to claim 1, wherein the first shell (5) and / or the second shell (6) comprises glass fibres in plastic, in particular a glass fibre content of 25%.

9. 9. The compensation vessel according to claim 1, wherein the second valve (10) is arranged on an outer wall of the vessel housing (4) separating the first receiving portion (7) from the surroundings.

10. A battery cooling system (3) comprising a compensation container (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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