High-Voltage Battery Cooling Bypass Control for Thermal Shock Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
High performance batteries in hybrid and electric vehicles generate excessive heat, requiring effective cooling to maintain uniform temperature and prevent overheating, which is challenging due to varying environmental conditions and the inability to adjust coolant flow rates, potentially leading to thermal shocks and damage.
Innovation Solution
A battery cooling system utilizing a high flow rate coolant with a duo-valve control system that directs coolant flow between a refrigerant-cooled chiller and an air-cooled heat exchanger, maintaining a maximum temperature gradient to prevent overheating and ensuring homogeneous cooling, while avoiding interference with passenger air conditioning systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a high flow rate coolant is used to cool the battery cells, then homogeneous cooling of all cells is achieved, but the temperature gradient between battery and coolant becomes too high causing thermal shocks and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the coolant flow rate based on real-time temperature monitoring. When the temperature gradient approaches dangerous levels, the flow rate is reduced to prevent thermal shock. This dynamic control allows the system to maintain homogeneous cooling when safe, while preventing thermal damage when the gradient becomes too high.
Solution Approach 2:
Temperature sensors continuously monitor the battery cells and coolant temperature. This feedback information is used to control the coolant flow rate, creating a closed-loop system that automatically adjusts cooling intensity to maintain safe temperature gradients while achieving homogeneous cooling distribution.
2Productivity
If the coolant flow rate is increased to remove heat faster, then cooling efficiency improves, but the temperature gradient between battery and coolant increases causing thermal damage
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant flow rate is dynamically adjusted rather than maintained at a constant high level. The system increases flow rate to improve heat removal when temperature gradients are safe, and reduces flow rate when gradients approach dangerous levels, thus maintaining both high productivity and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters of the cooling system by adjusting coolant flow rate based on temperature conditions. This parameter adjustment allows optimization of heat removal efficiency while preventing thermal damage through adaptive control.
3Productivity
If a separate battery cooling loop is used, then battery cooling performance is optimized, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The battery cooling system is integrated with the vehicle's existing engine cooling system by using a common coolant reservoir and sharing certain cooling components. This merging approach allows the battery to receive optimized cooling performance while avoiding the full complexity of a completely separate cooling loop.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system is designed to serve multiple functions - cooling both the engine and battery through shared components and infrastructure. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while maintaining dedicated cooling performance for the battery through intelligent flow distribution.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively maintains a uniform battery temperature, preventing overheating and thermal damage, while optimizing cooling efficiency and passenger comfort by dynamically adjusting coolant distribution between the chiller and heat exchanger based on ambient and battery temperatures.
Implementation Method 1
The heat transfer from the battery, thus the cooling of the battery cells, is a function of the temperature gradient between the battery cells and the coolant
Implementation Method 2
a first cooling device such as a refrigerant/coolant heat exchanger (also referred to as a chiller) may be used to control the temperature of the coolant in the battery's high flow rate cooling loop
Implementation Method 3
a second cooling loop may be provided, for example containing a second cooling device such as an air/coolant heat exchanger (HE) which uses ambient air to control the coolant temperature of the battery's high flow rate cooling loop
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling system for a vehicle battery is described. The system has a cooling loop in heat transfer communication with the battery, for removing heat therefrom with a coolant, a first cooling device selectively coupleable to the cooling loop, using a refrigerant fluid to transfer heat with the coolant, and a second cooling device selectively coupleable to the cooling loop, using ambient air to transfer heat with the coolant. Various temperature sensors for sensing an ambient temperature and a battery temperature are provided, and connected to a controller that implements a coolant flow bypass function by commanding operation of a valve to bypass the selected one of the cooling devices in response to the battery and the ambient temperatures.