Battery Cooling Floor Structure Without Grooved Flow Channels
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for batteries in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles face issues with refrigerant leakage, high manufacturing costs, weight, and unstable cooling performance due to complex flow path creation and brazing inefficiencies, which can lead to water accumulation and deformation.
Innovation Solution
A cooling floor member design that uses a partition member inserted between thin metal plates without joining, forming a cooling liquid flow path between them, eliminating the need for groove and press processing, and ensuring direct and continuous peripheral edge joining to prevent refrigerant leakage and reduce weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If groove processing is performed on the inner surface of the plate to form a meandering flow path, then the cooling efficiency is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases and the plate thickness must be sufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling plate is divided into an upper plate and a lower plate that are positioned facing each other with a partition member inserted between them. The flow path is formed by the space between these segmented components rather than by grooves in a single plate, eliminating the need for complex groove processing while maintaining effective cooling surface area.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of creating a meandering flow path within the plane of a single plate through groove processing, the invention utilizes the third dimension by stacking multiple plates and a partition member to form a three-dimensional flow channel structure. This approach achieves the same cooling effect without requiring deep grooves that would increase manufacturing complexity.
2Device complexity
If two plates are used with the same shape divided by a plane through the center of the flow path, then the flow path is formed, but groove processing must be performed on each plate increasing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into an upper plate, a lower plate, and a partition member. The partition member is inserted between the two plates to define the flow path, eliminating the need for groove processing on either plate. This segmentation simplifies manufacturing while maintaining the required flow path structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The partition member acts as an intermediary component inserted between the upper and lower plates to create the flow path. This mediator element defines the cooling channel without requiring any grooves or complex processing of the plates themselves, significantly simplifying the manufacturing process.
3Ease of manufacture
If all areas without flow path are joined by brazing, then the structure is assembled, but refrigerant leakage may occur if brazing is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The partition member serves as an intermediary that physically defines the flow path boundaries and works with the peripheral edge joining to create a sealed structure. This approach provides more reliable leakage prevention compared to brazing, as the continuous joining at peripheral edges combined with the partition member creates a more consistent seal.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple sealing mechanisms: the continuous joining of peripheral edges of the plates and the presence of the partition member that defines the flow path boundaries. This combination of sealing approaches provides redundant protection against refrigerant leakage, enhancing reliability.
4Ease of manufacture
If the plate has sufficient thickness to perform groove processing, then the flow path can be formed, but the weight of the panel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling plate is segmented into thinner upper and lower plates with a partition member, eliminating the need for thick plates required for groove processing. This segmentation allows the use of thinner materials that reduce weight while still providing the necessary flow path structure through the assembly of multiple components.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow path structure transitions from a two-dimensional groove-based design requiring thick plates to a three-dimensional assembly of thinner plates and a partition member. This dimensional change enables weight reduction while maintaining flow path functionality through the stacked configuration.
5Temperature
If water-cooling structure is adopted to efficiently reduce battery temperature increase, then cooling performance is improved, but the system weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system uses a segmented plate structure with upper and lower plates and a partition member, which reduces the overall weight compared to traditional water-cooling structures. This segmentation allows for thinner individual components while maintaining effective cooling surface area and heat dissipation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the structural parameters of the cooling system by using thinner plates in a stacked configuration rather than a single thick plate or traditional water-cooling structure. This parameter change reduces weight while maintaining the water-cooling function for efficient battery temperature control.
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 design restricts refrigerant leakage, reduces weight, and maintains stable cooling performance with efficient cooling efficiency by allowing dense battery cell installation and preventing thermal and surface distortions.
Implementation Method 1
a region surrounded by the metal underfloor material, the flat plate-like metal floorboard, and the partition member is a cooling liquid flow path through which a cooling liquid flows
Implementation Method 2
cooling liquid flow path through which a cooling liquid flows
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling floor member (100) is a cooling floor member (100) for cooling a battery cell, including a metal underfloor material (101), a flat plate-like metal floorboard (102) which is arranged face to the metal underfloor material (101), and which has a surface opposite to the metal underfloor material (101) that comes into contact with the battery cell, a partition member (105) inserted between the metal underfloor material (101) and the flat plate-like metal floorboard (102) without being joined thereto, and a joint (130) in which the outer peripheral edge of the metal underfloor material (101) and the outer peripheral edge of the flat plate-like metal floorboard (102) are directly and continuously joined, wherein a region surrounded by the metal underfloor material (101), the flat plate-like metal floorboard (102), and the partition member (105) is a cooling liquid flow path (104) through which a cooling liquid flows.